HONG KONG (AP) -- Asian markets were higher early Friday after Wall Street rallied for the 3rd day, driven by hopes for the Federal Reserve to cut rates.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 surged 1.9% to 35,701.38 and the Kospi in South Korea gained 1% to 2,547.39.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng picked up 1.4% to 22,226.19, while the Shanghai Composite Index was nearly unchanged at 3,297.36.

The rally was boosted by hopes that Trump was softening his approach on tariffs and his criticism of the Federal Reserve, but China denied Thursday it's involved in active trade negotiations with the U.S.

Taiwan's Taiex added 2.3%, while the market in Australia was closed because of Anzac Day.

Wall Street's rally kept rolling Thursday as better-than-expected profits for U.S. companies piled up in reports mainly from tech companies like ServiceNow and Texas Instruments, offsetting the uncertainties in the retail sector.

Federal Reserve officials boosted expectations for interest rate cuts as they said that they would slash the rate as early as June if Trump's tariffs hurt the U.S. economy and job market.

The S&P 500 charged 2% higher to 5,484.77 and pulled within 11% of its record set earlier this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.2% to 40,093.40, while the Nasdaq composite jumped 2.7% to 17,166.04.

In other moves early Friday, U.S. benchmark crude oil gained 13 cents to $62.92 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude, the international standard, added 22 cents to $66.77 per barrel.

The U.S dollar rose to 142.96 Japanese yen from 142.69 yen. The euro edged lower, to $1.1349 from $1.1391.

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AP Business Writers Stan Choe, Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.