Asian equities opened marginally higher Tuesday with support from a rally on Wall Street amid optimism that the Federal Reserve will pause its most-aggressive tightening campaign in decades.
NSE
Japan’s Topix rose for a third day as it extended gains that have taken the index to the highest level since 1990. South Korean shares also climbed while Australia’s benchmark edged lower and Hong Kong futures fell slightly.
Contracts for US benchmarks rose slightly in Asia after the Nasdaq 100 and the S&P 500 closed at the highest levels since April 2022. Gains in the Nasdaq, which rose 1.8 percent overnight, will put Asian tech stocks in the spotlight.
The two-year US Treasury yield, which is sensitive to imminent central bank moves, edged lower for a second day. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was steady early Tuesday as major currencies traded in narrow ranges.
All eyes are on the Federal Open Market Committee, which is expected to keep interest rates in the 5 percent-5.25 percent range on Wednesday. This assumes consumer price index data later Tuesday shows subdued inflationary pressure. The likelihood of a hike is higher in July, with swaps showing an almost quarter-point of additional tightening priced in by next month’s meeting.
Yields of Australia’s policy-sensitive three-year government bonds rose slightly while rates on New Zealand’s two-year debt were down fractionally.
Sentiment toward Chinese assets remains weak. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts said the nation’s struggling real estate industry is expected to see an L-shaped recovery in the coming years. They also downgraded earnings estimates and price targets on some Chinese property stocks.
Goldman also cut its oil forecast for the third time in six months, sending West Texas Intermediate more than 4 percent lower to its lowest close in three months. Even with Saudi Arabia’s decision less than two weeks ago to cut 1 million barrels a day of production, the bank sees crude supplies swelling, and trimmed its year-end price estimate to $86. WTI was fractionally higher Tuesday.
On Monday, Tesla Inc. climbed for a 12th straight session — a record winning run — and Apple Inc. hit an all-time high. KeyCorp and Citizens Financial Group Inc. led losses in banks after disappointing updates at an industry conference.
Oracle Corp. gained as its sales beat estimates, signaling the software maker’s cloud business is benefiting from demand for artificial intelligence workloads.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin held most of Monday’s loss as last week’s regulatory crackdown by the US Securities and Exchange Commission weighed on sentiment.
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