[ad_1]
BEIJING (AP) — Stocks in Asian markets mainly rose on Tuesday ahead of a U.S. inflation report that could dictate the timing of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate cuts.
US futures and oil prices rose.
Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell less than 0.1% to 38,797.51 yen, further retreating from recent highs, amid growing expectations that the central bank will raise its negative benchmark interest rate next month.
This speculation caused the Japanese yen to appreciate against the US dollar. Early Tuesday morning, the dollar was trading at 147.41 yen, up from 146.95 yen. Recently, it was trading at around 150 yen to the dollar.
China’s market was mixed, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng up 3.2% to 17,124.19, led by property developers and technology companies.
Shares of Country Garden, a development company in financial trouble, rose 5.2%. China Evergrande, which is struggling to service more than $300 billion in debt, soared nearly 28%, while Sunac China Holding rose 10%.
Online food delivery company Meituan soared 4.9%, and e-commerce company Jingdongcom soared 10%.
The Shanghai Composite Index fell, dropping 0.4% to 3,055.94.
Elsewhere in Asia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.1% to 7,712.50. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.8% to 2,681.81.
On Monday, the S&P 500 fell 0.1% to 5,117.94, staying near its all-time high set on Thursday.
Prices have been buoyed by expectations for rate cuts this year and signals that the economy remains remarkably resilient.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1% to $38,769.66, while the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.4% to $16,019.27.
If economists’ predictions are correct, Tuesday’s report on the prices Americans pay could show that inflation remained at 3.1% in February.
A month ago, a hotter-than-expected report on consumer-level inflation roiled financial markets.
But inflation has been trending mostly downward, cooling from peaks above 9% toward the Fed’s 2% target. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said last week that the Fed is “not far off” from gaining enough confidence in inflation to start cutting rates. Lowering the Fed’s key interest rate, which is at the highest level since 2001, would ease pressure on the economy and financial system while lowering investment prices.
The general expectation among traders is that the Fed will start cutting rates in June.
Expectations of interest rate easing have pushed gold prices to record levels. When bonds pay less interest, investors lose less income by owning gold instead. Gold for April delivery rose $3.10 to settle at $2,188.60 per ounce. Gold prices have increased about 17% over the past 12 months.
Bitcoin, which proponents sometimes tout as “digital gold,” also broke records. It rose from below $17,000 at the beginning of last year to nearly $73,000. This has more than recovered from its previous peak of nearly $69,000.
On Wall Street, Oracle rose 1.5% after the day’s close before releasing its latest earnings report. Earnings beat analysts’ expectations, and the stock rose further in after-hours trading.
Among the decliners was natural gas producer EQT, which fell 7.8%, the biggest decline on the S&P 500 index. The company announced that it will acquire Equitrans Midstream and its gas transmission and storage systems in an all-stock transaction that values the combined company at 100%. 35 billion dollars. Equitrans Midstream rose 1.5%.
Nvidia weathered a volatile day after falling 5.5% on Friday, its worst day since May. Nvidia is up more than 70% this year after more than tripling last year amid Wall Street’s frenzy over artificial intelligence technology.
Reddit said it could raise up to $748 million by selling shares to investors on an exchange for the first time. The social media company expects its stock to trade under the ticker symbol “RDDT.”
In other trading early Tuesday, benchmark U.S. crude oil rose 25 cents to $78.18 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It fell 8 cents to $77.93 per barrel on Monday.
Brent crude, the international standard, added 33 cents to $83.54 per barrel.
The euro rose to $1.0937 from $1.0927.
[ad_2]
Source link
