Stock market today: Asian shares mostly rise after Wall Street's record rally

Asian shares are mostly rising, encouraged by a record rally on Wall Street. Benchmarks gained Wednesday in Sydney, Seoul and Hong Kong. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 lost morning gains to slip in afternoon trading. Also on investors' minds is the Japanese yen's rise against the U.S. dollar, which has set off some speculation about the Bank of Japan ending its super-easy monetary policy. The S&P 500 rose 1.1% to top its all-time high set last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.6%. The Nasdaq jumped 1.5%. Traders still hope the U.S. Federal Reserve will begin cutting interest rates in June.