Asian Stocks Advance After Tech Lifts Wall Street: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) — Equities in Asia climbed Wednesday after a tech rally lifted Wall Street and bets on Federal Reserve rate cuts stabilized.

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Shares in Australia and Japan rose as did Hong Kong equity futures after sharp declines on Tuesday. Contracts on US equities were little changed after the S&P 500 rose 1% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 advanced 1.6% Tuesday. Oil gained.

New Zealand’s dollar fell and bonds rose after the nation’s central bank delivered a 50 basis-point cut on its benchmark rate. It is the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s second straight reduction after it began its easing cycle with a quarter-point cut in August.

China’s equity market remained in focus. An index of US-listed Chinese shares fell 6.9% overnight as concerns mounted that the latest burst of stimulus may be insufficient to convince investors of a sustainable rally in the country’s equity market. A news report that cited Premier Li Qiang late Tuesday indicated China needs to introduce policies to stabilize growth and expectations, in a further sign Beijing is attempting to build confidence among investors.

Tuesday’s sharp drop in HK stocks “can be considered somewhat of a clearing event for purging some excess inflated overinflated expectations of stimulus from the market,” said Timothy Moe, Goldman Sachs’ chief Asia Pacific equity strategist. “We’ve level set things and I would think that from here we probably find a floor.”

Elsewhere in Asia, India will unveil its rate decision later today while South Korea will join FTSE Russell’s benchmark bond index, capping months of official campaigning and a overhaul of financial market infrastructure. The index provider also added India to its gauge of emerging market debt.

US Rate-Cut Expectations

Treasuries were little changed after steadying Tuesday following a run of selling in the prior four sessions, amplified by last week’s US jobs data that weighed on rate-cut expectations. With inflation data due later in the week, the US 10-year yield fell one basis point to just above 4%, while front-end yields fell by a sharper margin as investors parsed comments from Federal Reserve officials.

Fed Bank of Boston President Susan Collins noted that rate cuts should be careful and data-based. Her Atlanta counterpart Raphael Bostic said while risks to inflation have come down, threats to the labor market have risen, though the economy is still strong. Governor Adriana Kugler said officials should keep the focus on bringing inflation to target, with a “balanced approach” that avoids a slowdown in jobs.

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“The US data is not so strong that the Federal Reserve’s contribution to the global rate-cutting cycle looks set to end,” said Mark Haefele at UBS Global Wealth Management. “We therefore maintain our conviction for investors to position for lower rates.”

Key events this week:

• Fed minutes, Wednesday

• Fed’s Lorie Logan, Raphael Bostic, Austan Goolsbee and Mary Daly speak, Wednesday

• US CPI, initial jobless claims, Thursday

• Fed’s John Williams and Thomas Barkin speak, Thursday

• JPMorgan, Wells Fargo kick off earnings season for the big Wall Street banks, Friday

• US PPI, University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday

• Fed’s Lorie Logan, Austan Goolsbee and Michelle Bowman speak, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• S&P 500 futures were little changed as of 10:07 a.m. Tokyo time

• Hang Seng futures rose 0.9%

• Nikkei 225 futures (OSE) rose 1.1%

• Japan’s Topix rose 0.5%

• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.6%

• Euro Stoxx 50 futures rose 0.2%

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed

• The euro was little changed at $1.0977

• The Japanese yen was little changed at 148.28 per dollar

• The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.0688 per dollar

• The Australian dollar was little changed at $0.6745

Cryptocurrencies

• Bitcoin fell 0.3% to $62,188.62

• Ether was little changed at $2,440.98

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries was unchanged at 4.01%

• Japan’s 10-year yield was little changed at 0.925%

• Australia’s 10-year yield was little changed at 4.17%

Commodities

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

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