Asian Stock Market: Tracks Wall Street gains even as China, Russia poke bulls

Asian equities remain bullish amid optimism surrounding Omicron, stimulus.
Sino-American tussles, Russia-Ukraine tension weigh on yields, Evergrande, Kaisa also challenge optimists.
Japan’s Q3 GDP eases, US pushes for faster debt ceiling extension.
S&P 500 rose the most since March, yields refreshed weekly top before the latest pullback.

Anil Panchal FXStreet

Asian shares print gains during early Wednesday amid the market’s hopes to overcome the South African covid variant with the available resources. Adding to the firmer sentiment could be comments from Japan and China showing readiness to safeguard financial markets from coronavirus and default risks, respectively.

That said, the MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rises over 0.45% intraday while Japan’s Nikkei 225 gains 1.5% heading into the European session.

As Japanese policymakers battle over multi-billion dollars of the aid package, the easing of the Q3 GDP figures adds strength to the government pushing for easy money. The same could be said for China as Evergrande and Kaisa defaults loom. As a result, stocks in China and Pacific markets are mostly up amid stimulus hopes.

South Korea’s KOSPI and Indonesia’s IDX Composite tracks China but fears of Sino-American tussles, following the major boycott of Beijing Olympics 2022, probe the bulls. Also challenging the market sentiment is the US-Russia tussles over Ukraine as US President Joe Biden warns Russia of sanctions and helps Ukraine with military power if Kremlin invades Kyiv.

Furthermore, India’s BSE Sensex rises 1.30% at the latest as markets brace for the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) inaction.

Elsewhere, the US 10-year Treasury yields decline two basis points (bps) to 1.47% at the latest while retreating from a weekly high whereas the S&P 500 Futures print rise 0.20% intraday at the latest. It’s worth noting that Wall Street benchmarks rallied the previous day with the S&P 500 marking the best run-up since March.

Considering a lack of major data/events, Asia-Pacific markets will look to Thursday’s China inflation data and Friday’s US Consumer Price Index (CPI) for clear direction. Meanwhile, geopolitical headlines and company-specific news from China, coupled with the Omicron updates, will entertain the traders.

Read: Yields decline, S&P 500 Futures print mild gains on mixed concerns

Author

Anil Panchal

FXStreet

Anil Panchal has nearly 15 years of experience in tracking financial markets. With a keen interest in macroeconomics, Anil aptly tracks global news/updates and stays well-informed about the global financial moves and their implications.

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