The middle of the week saw Asia-Pacific stock markets trade mixed during the start of the Asian session, tracking Wall Street’s overnight performance which saw tech stocks soar 2%.
This morning most investors awaited the announcement of China’s key annual lending rate, which will signal policy support by the great wall nation’s authorities as it still struggles with the Covid-19 outbreak.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 hit 0.55% as shares of robot maker Fanuc jumped more than 1% while Australian shares were in the green with the S & P/ASX 200 up 0.25%.
The MSCI broad index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan was unchanged in the early morning trading session.
Turning to the other side of the embankment, investors were seen cheerfully digesting positive earnings reports as well as less hawkish statements by US Federal Reserve (Fed) officials about rate hikes.
According to Max Grinacoff, BNP Paribas derivatives strategist, this earnings season is important as the economy is in a cycle of rate hikes by the Fed and against the backdrop of high inflation.
Moreover, less hawkish comments by Chicago Fed President and Atlanta Fed President have given a boost to major indices on U.S. exchanges after the St. Louis President reiterated statements about a 3.5% rate hike by year-end in curbing high inflation.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 index hit 1.61% at 4,462.21, the Dow Jones Industrial average index rose 1.45% at 34,911.20 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 2.15% at 13,619.66.
Moreover, shares of streaming giant Netflix shrank 24% for the first time in a decade with the company’s report stating that the number of users is starting to decline.
The bond yield market saw 30 -year yields surpassing 3% for the first time since April 2019 while 10 -year Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS) yields turned positive for the first time since 2020.
Summary on the currency, the dollar index which measures a number of other currencies rose 100.968, while the Japanese Yen traded 129.19 per dollar and the Australian dollar was at $ 0.7395.
