Asian Markets Trading Mostly Higher

Asian stock markets are trading mostly higher on Tuesday, despite the mostly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders shrugged off concerns about inflation and continue to pick up stocks at a bargain after the recent big sell-off. Traders also looked ahead to the release of the U.S. inflation data and the minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s latest monetary policy meeting, for directional clues. Asian stocks ended mostly lower on Monday.

The inflation data will potentially impact the outlook for interest rates as a strong reading could strengthen expectations about a speedier pace of policy tightening by the Fed to fight inflation.

The Australian stock market is trading significantly higher on Tuesday, recouping the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 just below the 7,200 mark, despite the mostly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, with materials and financial stocks outperforming, partially offset by weakness in technology stocks,

Concerns over the domestic COVID-19 cases have softened a bit as the daily new cases are on a steady decline. New South Wales reported 9,690 new cases and 18 deaths on Monday and Victoria also reported 9,785 new cases and 20 deaths. Queensland recorded 5,178 new cases and 12 deaths, South Australia recorded 1,296 new cases and four deaths and Tasmania reported 601 new cases.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 69.00 points or 0.97 percent to 7,179.80, after touching a high of 7,203.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 67.80 points or 0.91 percent to 7,482.00. Australian stocks closed modestly lower on Monday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto and BHP Group are gaining more than 3 percent each, while Fortescue Metals is adding more than 2 percent. Mineral Resources is losing 1.5 percent and OZ Minerals is down almost 1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Origin Energy and Woodside Petroleum are gaining more than 1 percent, while Santos is edging up 0.1 percent. Beach energy is edging down 0.2 percent.

Among the big four banks, Westpac is gaining more than 1 percent and ANZ Banking is adding almost 1 percent, while National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank are edging up 0.2 percent.

Among tech stocks, Appen is losing almost 4 percent, Zip is down more than 1 percent and Block is declining more than 6 percent, while Xero is gaining almost 2 percent and WiseTech Global is adding more than 1 percent.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Northern Star Resources and Gold Road Resources are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Evolution Mining is edging up 0.5 percent, Newcrest Mining is rising almost 1 percent and Resolute Mining is adding 2.5 percent.

Travel stocks are gaining on news of borders opening to tourists, with Qantas adding almost 2 percent, Flight Centre gaining more than 5 percent and Corporate Travel Management rising more than 4 percent.

In other news, shares in Nanosonics are plunging almost 9 percent after news that the infection control biotech’s current sales model with GE in the U.S. has been revised.

Shares in Macquarie Group are gaining almost 5 percent after the investment giant posted strong quarterly results.

Shares in Suncorp are also higher by almost 6 percent after its first-half results beat analyst expectations and announced an interim dividend.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.713 on Tuesday.

The Japanese stock market is modestly higher on Tuesday, recouping the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark Nikkei index moving just below the 27,400 level, despite the mostly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders continue to pick up stocks at a bargain following last month’s rout, even as the raging spread of the coronavirus omicron variant continues across the country, with many parts of the nation hitting record highs.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 27,365.46, up 116.59 points or 0.43 percent, after touching a high of 27,461.33 earlier. Japanese shares closed notably lower on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing are gaining almost 1 percent each. Among automakers, Honda is edging up 0.5 percent and Toyota is gaining almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is edging down 0.3 percent and Screen Holdings is losing almost 1 percent, while Tokyo Electron is adding almost 1 percent. In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is adding almost 1 percent.

The major exporters are mostly higher. Panasonic is edging up 0.4 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric and Canon are adding almost 1 percent each. Sony is down almost 1 percent.

Among the other major gainers, Ricoh is soaring more than 6 percent, Maruha Nichiro is surging almost 6 percent and Hitachi Zosen is rising almost 5 percent, while Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, West Japan Railway and Konica Minolta are adding almost 4 percent each.

Conversely, DIC Corp. is plunging more than 11 percent and Olympus is losing more than 6 percent.

In economic news, the average of household spending in Japan was down 0.2 percent on year in December, the Ministry of Communications and Internal Affairs said on Tuesday – coming in at 317,206 yen. That missed expectations for an increase of 0.3 percent following the 1.3 percent drop in the previous month. The average of monthly income per household stood at 1,102,091 yen, up 4.6 percent on year. On a monthly basis, household spending rose 0.1 percent – again missing forecasts for an increase of 0.7 percent following the 1.2 percent decline in November.

Japan also posted a current account deficit of 370.8 billion yen in December, the Ministry of Finance said on Tuesday – missing expectations for a surplus of 73.5 billion yen following the 897.3 billion yen surplus in November. Exports were up 18/7 percent on year at 7.797 trillion yen, while imports surged an annual 44.8 percent to 8.115 trillion yen for a trade deficit of 318.7 billion yen. The financial account saw a deficit of 34.7 billion yen, while the capital account had a shortfall of 58.4 billion yen. For all of 2021, the current account surplus was 15.435 trillion yen – down 2.8 percent on year.

Further, overall bank lending in Japan was up 0.6 percent on year for the second straight month in January, the Bank of Japan said on Tuesday, coming in at 581.196 trillion yen. Excluding trusts, lending also was up 0.6 percent on year to 504.781 trillion yen.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 115 yen-range on Tuesday.

Elsewhere in Asia, New Zealand, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Indonesia are higher by between 0.2 and 0.9 percent each. China and Hong Kong are down 0.4 and 1.1 percent, respectively. Malaysia is relatively flat.

On Wall Street, stocks failed to hold gains and ended on a negative note on Monday after a cautious and somewhat lackluster session. Traders remained largely reluctant to build up positions as they looked ahead to the released of the inflation data and the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest monetary policy meeting, for directional clues.

Among the major averages, the S&P 500 ended lower by 16.66 points or 0.37 percent at 4,483.87, dropping from a high of 4,521.86, while the Nasdaq settled at 14,015.67, netting a loss of 82.34 points or 0.58 percent. The Dow ended the session with just a small gain of 1.39 points at 35,091.13.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 moved up 0.76 percent, Germany’s DAX surged up 0.71 percent and France’s CAC 40 gained 0.83 percent.

Crude oil futures retreated Monday amid signs that nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran are moving in a positive way, so there could be a removal of U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil sales. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended lower by $0.99 or 1.1 percent at $91.32 a barrel.

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