NEW YORK: The Nasdaq powered to a fresh record on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) as Wall Street rallied for a second straight session on fading worries about shifting US monetary policy.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 0.8 percent to 14,253.27, easily topping a record set earlier this month.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2 percent to 33,945.58 while the broad-based S&P 500 advanced 0.5 percent to 4,246.44.

The Dow last week suffered its worst week since October on worries about monetary policy after the Federal Reserve moved up its time frame for lifting interest rates.

But this week’s rally shows the market realized it “maybe overreacted a little to the hawkishness last week,” said briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.

“You had a strong rebound yesterday and you’ve seen a continuation of it today.” Many analysts had characterized the Fed’s posture last week as more hawkish than expected.

But O’Hare noted that even under the current timeframe, the Fed’s targeting of 2023 for the first interest rate hike is still highly accommodative.

Meanwhile, Tokyo’s key Nikkei 225 index opened slightly higher on Wednesday after Wall Street shares enjoyed a second straight day of gains as worries over US rate policy eased.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.08 percent, or 22.48 points, at 28,906.61 in early trade while the broader Topix index was down 0.13 percent, or 2.62 points, at 1,956.91.

Wednesday’s gains came after US Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell stressed at a congressional hearing that most factors pushing prices higher are “areas that are directly affected by the reopening” of the economy after its pandemicenforced shutdown.

“There’s no reason why it should leave a mark on inflation, say, a year or so ahead, because we should be through it, then,” Powell said. On Wall Street, the Nasdaq powered to a fresh record after a strong bounce back from last week’s rout.

Japanese shares “are seen led by purchases as investors took heart from Fed Chairman Powell’s careful position on a rate hike he showed in testimony” on Tuesday, Mizuho Securities said in a note.

“However, profit-taking could emerge” in later trade, it added. The dollar fetched 110.73 yen in early Asian trade, against 110.68 yen in New York late Tuesday.

In Tokyo, Nissan was down 1.33 percent at 535.5 yen after a report said it will adjust July production because of a chip shortage while its bigger rival Toyota was off 1.14 percent at 9,846 yen.