The Traderszone Network

Asian shares rose on Friday after Wall Street set another record high with prospects for a Federal Reserve rate hike in June all but quashed, while the dollar was on the defensive after downbeat U.S. data. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.9 percent with South Korean, Australian and Hong Kong shares posting sizeable gains. The Bank of Japan kept its policy as widely expected.

Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N) will sell a controlling 51 percent stake in its China-based data-networking business to China’s Tsinghua Unigroup for at least $2.3 billion, forming a partnership designed to create a Chinese technology powerhouse. State-backed Tsinghua Holdings’ subsidiary Unisplendour Corp Ltd will acquire 51 percent of HP’s H3C Technologies for at least $2.3 billion, Unisplendour said in a statement to the Shenzhen stock exchange late on Thursday. The U.S.

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The U.S. Federal Reserve is likely to stick with plans to raise interest rates later this year, with progress toward its employment and inflation goals helping allay concerns over the economy’s recent weakness, current and former Fed officials say. Fed Chair Janet Yellen, who on Friday will talk about the economy’s prospects, is expected to acknowledge the recent sluggishness, including near stagnant performance in the first few months of the year.

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Charter had bid about $132.50 per share, or $37.3 billion, for Time Warner Cable last year before being beaten by Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O), whose all-stock deal was initially worth $158.82 per share. Comcast abandoned its $45 billion offer for Time Warner Cable last month after U.S. regulators raised concerns the deal would have given Comcast an unfair advantage in the cable TV and Internet-based services market. TWC declined to comment, while Charter had no comment on the report.

The world’s No. 2 personal computer maker, whose shares rose more than 3 percent in extended trading on Thursday, kept its profit forecast unchanged for the full year, allaying fears of a strong dollar and weak enterprise demand for its services.

The chairman of a congressional committee on Thursday subpoenaed Federal Reserve documents and communications related to a 2012 leak of monetary policy information, ramping up his attack of the central bank’s handling of the case. Jeb Hensarling, a Republican of Texas who chairs the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, said in a release that the Fed failed to comply with document requests from the panel in connection with market-sensitive information that was leaked to a private financial newsletter.

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President Barack Obama moved closer to winning the power to speed trade deals through the Congress, as the Senate on Thursday advanced legislation important to his Asian trade push. Senators voted 62-38 to set up a speedy decision on the “fast-track” trade negotiating authority the president needs to complete the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal. The TPP is part of Obama’s so-called pivot to Asia, a strategy to counter China’s rising economic and diplomatic clout in Asia.