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A pedestrian looks at an electronic stock board displaying the Nikkei 225 Stock Average outside a securities firm in Tokyo, Japan. Picture: BLOOMBERG/KIYOSHI OTA
Melbourne — Asia’s share markets were mostly higher on Tuesday even as global investor attention remains fixed on the prospect of US interest rate hikes in the next few months, after two years of unprecedented pandemic-induced policy easing.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.4%, after the US market was closed overnight for the Martin Luther King Jr holiday. The index is up 1.1% so far this month.
Australian shares were up 0.29%, while in China the blue-chip CSI300 index rose 0.33% in early trading. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up by 0.61%.
Japan’s Nikkei stock index was trading 0.63% higher ahead of the Bank of Japan’s decision due on Tuesday. The Japanese central bank is not expected to change its ultra low rates stance but its inflation forecasts are likely to be increased for 2022.
Ahead of the meeting’s outcome, the dollar was trading against the yen at 114.51. It is still some distance from its low this year of 113.49 last week.
The US Federal Reserve is due to meet on January 25-26 and while it is not expected to shift rates then, a growing number of investors think March will be the start of a tightening cycle. Rate rises are generally seen as negative for riskier assets such as equities.
“Investors’ focus remains on the Fed and the pace at which they raise rates,” John Milroy, adviser at brokerage Ord Minnett in Sydney, said. “We think it will be faster than markets currently expect. Boom conditions remain in the US with a tight labour market. Good for world growth but adds to the inflationary pressures.”
The prospect of higher US rates was also playing out in fixed income markets on Tuesday, after the US market closure on Monday.
In Asian cash market trading on Tuesday, two-year yields rose above 1% for the first time since February 2020. Two-year yields track short-term rate expectations and were last up 3.7 basis points at 1.0054%.
Five-year yields rose 3.6 basis points to 1.5960%, the highest since January 2020. Benchmark 10-year yields were up about 2 basis points to 1.8108% in early Tokyo trade.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies of other major trading partners, was up at 95.254.
US crude ticked up 0.49% to $84.23 a barrel. Brent crude rose to $86.53 a barrel.
Gold was slightly lower. Spot gold traded at $1,818.2274 an ounce.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Asia shares tick higher
Melbourne — Asia’s share markets were mostly higher on Tuesday even as global investor attention remains fixed on the prospect of US interest rate hikes in the next few months, after two years of unprecedented pandemic-induced policy easing.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.4%, after the US market was closed overnight for the Martin Luther King Jr holiday. The index is up 1.1% so far this month.
Australian shares were up 0.29%, while in China the blue-chip CSI300 index rose 0.33% in early trading. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up by 0.61%.
Japan’s Nikkei stock index was trading 0.63% higher ahead of the Bank of Japan’s decision due on Tuesday. The Japanese central bank is not expected to change its ultra low rates stance but its inflation forecasts are likely to be increased for 2022.
Ahead of the meeting’s outcome, the dollar was trading against the yen at 114.51. It is still some distance from its low this year of 113.49 last week.
The US Federal Reserve is due to meet on January 25-26 and while it is not expected to shift rates then, a growing number of investors think March will be the start of a tightening cycle. Rate rises are generally seen as negative for riskier assets such as equities.
“Investors’ focus remains on the Fed and the pace at which they raise rates,” John Milroy, adviser at brokerage Ord Minnett in Sydney, said. “We think it will be faster than markets currently expect. Boom conditions remain in the US with a tight labour market. Good for world growth but adds to the inflationary pressures.”
The prospect of higher US rates was also playing out in fixed income markets on Tuesday, after the US market closure on Monday.
In Asian cash market trading on Tuesday, two-year yields rose above 1% for the first time since February 2020. Two-year yields track short-term rate expectations and were last up 3.7 basis points at 1.0054%.
Five-year yields rose 3.6 basis points to 1.5960%, the highest since January 2020. Benchmark 10-year yields were up about 2 basis points to 1.8108% in early Tokyo trade.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies of other major trading partners, was up at 95.254.
US crude ticked up 0.49% to $84.23 a barrel. Brent crude rose to $86.53 a barrel.
Gold was slightly lower. Spot gold traded at $1,818.2274 an ounce.
Reuters
JSE faces mixed Asian markets on Tuesday as focus shifts to earnings
Market data — January 17 2022
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