Asia stocks rise after Wall St rally
Business
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index was up 1.03 percent
HONG KONG (AFP) - Asia stocks rose in early Monday trade following a record-smashing lead from Wall Street.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index was up 1.03 percent, while Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 1.09 percent.
Friday’s gains on Wall Street, where the broad-based S&P 500 piled on more than 0.9 percent to finish at 4,712.02, eclipsing a record from last month and came despite the consumer price index jumping 6.8 percent in November.
Such a rise in inflation would suggest a sooner-rather-than-later tapering in the US Federal Reserve’s ultra-loose monetary policy, a change markets have been nervously awaiting for months.
Fed chair Jerome Powell had already signalled plans to accelerate the tapering of stimulus payments. Many analysts expect the central bank to hike interest rates at least twice in 2022.
Powell will update the markets this week following a two-day policy meeting.
But traders took the data in stride, in part because inflation was largely expected.
In Asia Monday, Singapore, Seoul and Taipei and Wellington were marginally up. Shanghai also rose.
In Tokyo, "the market is looking at the Bank of Japan’s Tankan" quarterly business survey, released 10 minutes before the opening bell, senior market analyst Toshiyuki Kanayama of Monex said.
The latest survey showed Japan’s major manufacturers remain cautious about the economy’s trajectory, with business sentiment flat for the quarter as concerns about the pandemic linger.
Some investors may take a wait-and-see attitude ahead of the Fed meeting, analysts added.
"Global equities had a solid run last week and we’ll see if the goodwill lasts into what is a behemoth when it comes to event risk," Chris Weston, head of research with Pepperstone Financial, wrote in a note.
The Fed, along with the latest on the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, should dictate sentiment, he added.
