(Updated at 0545 GMT)

By Ankur Banerjee

SINGAPORE, March 6 (Reuters) - Asian stocks rose on

Wednesday as traders awaited policy cues from Beijing during its

week-long annual session of parliament after a prior lack of

stimulus measures disappointed some investors, while gold and

bitcoin eased after touching record peaks.

Traders were also hesitant to place major bets ahead of

congressional testimony from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell

starting later on Wednesday that will be parsed to gauge if and

when the U.S. central bank is ready to start cutting interest

rates.

Chinese stocks were mixed a day after Beijing set a widely

expected 5% growth target for 2024 at a key parliament meeting

that lacked major stimulus measures.

The blue-chip CSI 300 Index was 0.08% lower while

Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng spiked 2% higher,

rebounding from Tuesday's 2.5% dive.

"The 2024 (China) economic targets still show officials are

unwilling to quickly reflate the economy given concerns about

excessive debt and the weakness of the yuan," said Mansoor

Mohi-uddin, chief economist at the Bank of Singapore.

An economy-focused press conference at 0700 GMT on

Wednesday, where representatives from People's Bank of China and

other regulators may respond to media inquiries, will be

scrutinised by investors looking for more policy details.

The wait-and-see approach made for a lacklustre trading

session in Asia, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific

shares outside Japan initially slipping before

reversing course to trade 0.46% higher.

Wall Street's three major indexes retreated more than 1% on

Tuesday, with weakness in megacap growth companies such as Apple ( AAPL )

and the chip sector weighing most on the tech-heavy

Nasdaq.

E-mini futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.09%. European

bourses are set for slightly higher open, with the Eurostoxx 50

futures up 0.10%, German DAX futures up 0.14%

and FTSE futures up 0.05%.

A key event for investors in Britain will be the

government's budget, in which Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt will

do his utmost to cut taxes while avoiding the ire of bond

markets.

In the U.S., data on Tuesday showed a waning expansion of

the services sector, and a steeper-than-expected drop in new

factory orders, with the spotlight now firmly on payrolls data

due later in the week.

Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields steadied

in Asian hours and were last at 4.147%, having dipped to a

one-month low of 4.112% in the previous session after weak data.

Traders are scouring U.S. economic data and policymakers

speeches to gauge when the Fed would start cutting rates.

Markets are pricing in a 68% chance of the Fed starting its

easing cycle in June, CME FedWatch tool showed. They have priced

in 88 basis points of cuts this year.

That makes Powell's congressional appearances starting on

Wednesday a significant event, although analysts expect the Fed

chair to stick to his message.

"Of particular interest to markets is whether there is

unanimity within the Fed on the continued descent in inflation,

given the robust economic backdrop," said Nicholas Chia, macro

strategist at Standard Chartered.

"Powell's testimony may offer more colour on the

debates going on within the FOMC over their take on the

deceleration in price pressures, and whether they will take the

plunge to cut rates before inflation is back at the 2% target."

In the currency market, the Japanese yen yen

strengthened 0.08% to 149.93 per dollar, while sterling

was flat on the day at $1.2704 ahead of Britain's budget

announcement.

The euro last bought $1.0853 ahead of a policy

decision from the European Central bank on Thursday.

The ECB is widely expected to leave interest rates at a

record 4%, but the focus will be on clues about when rates might

start to fall in the wake of stubborn inflation.

Data last week showed euro zone inflation dipped in February

but underlying price growth remained high, adding to the case

for the ECB to hold rates at record highs a bit longer before

starting to ease policy towards mid-year.

Markets are pricing in 90 basis points of cuts from ECB this

year.

In cryptocurrency, bitcoin was hovering around

$66,000, having breached a record high of $69,202 in the

previous session, fuelled by investors pouring money into U.S.

spot exchange-traded crypto products.

Spot gold wobbled to $2,127.36 an ounce after

touching all-time high of $2,141.59 on Tuesday.

U.S. crude rose 0.29% to $78.38 per barrel and Brent

was at $82.27, up 0.28% on the day.