Asian stocks extend global gains ahead of US inflation test
Asian stocks were mixed and US Treasury yields fell Tuesday as markets, boosted by the weekend of a long-delayed $1 trillion US infrastructure bill, waited for the release of US inflation data.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside of Japan rose 0.2%. the stock index fell 0.68%, while Australian equities fell 0.24% as losses in the financial sector wiped out early gains from heavyweight mining stocks.
Elsewhere in Asia, China’s blue-chip CSI300 index lost 0.2% as lingering concerns about the real estate sector’s liquidity problems weighed on real estate stocks. Hong Kong’s fell 0.11%.
Top Chinese Communist Party members have been meeting in Beijing since Monday and are on the verge of greening out a new term for President Xi Jinping.
Meanwhile, a Chinese state council think tank held a meeting with real estate developers and banks on Monday, at which developers urged state-owned companies to help private companies improve liquidity.
“Sentiment across the market is relatively low today. More investors are adopting a wait-and-see attitude amid and anticipation of major events, awaiting more policy direction,” said Zhang Zihua, chief investment officer at Beijing Yunyi Asset Management.
European equity markets were poised for a softer open, with the pan region falling 0.41%, the German one 0.31% while futures fell 0.39%. US stock futures, the , were down 0.22%.
On Monday, the Wall Street benchmark and the Nasdaq extended their all-time streak to eight straight sessions, while the blue-chip Dow set its second consecutive closing record.
However, a 4.9% drop in Tesla (NASDAQ:) Inc shares weighed on the S&P 500. Tesla fell after Chief Executive Elon Musk’s Twitter (NYSE:) survey on whether he owned about 10% of his shares. in the electric automaker should sell. The poll received more than 3.5 million votes, of which 57.9% voted “yes”.
World stocks also rose on Monday, after hitting an all-time high last week, as relatively mild central bank reports and strong US labor data on Friday fueled the optimism generated by a healthy earnings season on both sides of the Atlantic.
But a tight US job market and disruption in global supply chains could lead to high consumer prices on Wednesday. Strong inflation would likely fuel rumors that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates earlier than expected.
While Chairman Powell says the Fed can be patient on rate hikes as measures of underlying inflation and wages tighten and broaden, the clock is ticking on how long it can hold that line,” ANZ analysts said.
Treasury yields fell after Randal Quarles, who until last month was the Federal Reserve’s vice chairman for oversight and the most powerful banking regulator, announced Monday that he will step down as bank governor at the end of the year.
The return on the benchmark reached 1.4741% compared to the US close of 1.497% on Monday. The two-year yield fell to 0.4148%, compared to a US closing rate of 0.449%.
Oil prices remained stable as the passage of the US infrastructure bill and Chinese export growth supported the outlook for energy demand.
Saudi Arabia’s state producer Aramco (SE:) also increased the official selling price for its crude oil.
Fell less than 0.1% to $81.86 a barrel. stood at $83.31 a barrel. Gold was slightly lower. traded at $1,823,1742 an ounce.
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