Asia markets poised to rise as Federal Reserve maintains forecast for three rate cuts this year

This is CNBC's live blog covering Asia-Pacific markets.

Asia-Pacific markets were set to rise after the U.S. Federal Reserve maintained its forecast for three rate cuts in 2024 while holding the Federal Funds rate at 5.25%-5.5%.

The outlook for three cuts came from the Fed's "dot plot," a closely watched matrix of anonymous projections from the 19 officials who comprise the Federal Open Market Committee. However, the chart provides no indication for the timing of the moves.

The updated dot plot indicated three cuts in 2025 as well – one fewer than the last time the grid was updated in December.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 started the day up almost 1%, after flash data from Judo Bank showed that the country's business activity expanded at a faster pace in March compared with the prior month.

The country's composite purchasing managers index stood at 52.4, up from 52.1 in February.

Japan's Nikkei 225 is also set to continue hold above the 40,000 mark as the market opens after a public holiday, with the futures contract in Chicago at 40,455 and its counterpart in Osaka at 40,370 against the index's last close of 40,003.6.

The country trade data for February and PMI flash data for March from the au Jibun bank is due later in the day.

Futures for Hong Kong's Hang Seng index stood at 16,716, pointing to a stronger open compared to the HSI's close of 16,543.07.

Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes rose, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P500 closing at record highs.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 1.03% to finish at 39,512.13, while the S&P 500 gained 0.89% to close at 5,224.62. rising above the 5,200 level for the first time.

The Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.25%, powered by megacap tech stocks.

— CNBC's