TOKYO / NEW YORK, March 16 (Reuters) – Asian equities rose on Tuesday, following a record-breaking rise in major Wall Street indices to record highs, with investors looking at the main central bank meetings this week, starting with the US Federal Reserve.
An index of the region’s stock markets, excluding Japan, appreciated 0.7%, led by a 1.2% jump in Australia’s S & P / ASX 200 benchmark.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.6%, just below the 30,000 mark, while the broader Topix added 0.5%.
China’s blue chip index CSI 300 rose 0.7% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.7%.
On Monday, the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average soared with gains in travel stocks, with mass vaccination in the United States and Congressional approval of a $ 1.9 trillion bill that fueled investor optimism.
E-mini futures for the S&P 500 were up 0.06%.
Investors are focused on the Fed’s two-day policy meeting, which will conclude on Wednesday, as bond yields soared this year, with investors betting that central banks will need to raise rates sooner than they signaled to contain inflation. Fed policymakers are expected to predict that the US economy will grow in 2021 at the fastest rate in decades.
The Bank of England also meets this week on Thursday, while the Bank of Japan closes a two-day meeting on Friday.
“Markets are likely to be in a holding pattern before this … week full of central banks,” wrote analysts at TD Securities.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 174.82 points, or 0.53%, to 32,953.46, the S&P 500 gained 25.6 points, or 0.65%, to 3,968.94 and the Nasdaq Composite added up 139.84 points, or 1.05%, to 13,459.71.
Airline stocks soared as companies pointed to concrete signs of a recovery in the sector, as the launch of vaccines helped boost leisure reserves.
Germany, France and Italy paused the shots of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 after several countries reported possible serious side effects.
Development will be monitored in Australia, where the vaccine is also administered.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index was stable on Monday, after reaching its highest level since February 2020.
US Treasury long-term yields fell further on Tuesday, with the market awaiting the Fed meeting and the latest government debt auctions.
The 10-year benchmark yield, which reached its highest high in more than a year at 1.642% last week, returned to 1.555%
Rising inflation expectations may prompt the Federal Open Market Committee to signal that it will start raising rates sooner than expected.
In currencies, the US dollar made small gains overnight in a quiet price action ahead of central bank meetings.
The US dollar was practically stable at 109.165 yen, after rising to 109.365 on Monday, for the first time since June.
The euro changed little at $ 1.19320, languishing for an eighth session below the closely observed $ 1.20 level.
Bitcoin continued its fall from a record $ 61,781.83 reached on Saturday, being traded 3% weaker on the day, around $ 53,915.
US West Texas Intermediate oil for April changed hands at $ 64.79 a barrel, down 60 cents. Brent oil futures for May were at $ 68.21 a barrel, losing 67 cents.
Reporting by Kevin Buckland and Elizabeth Dilts Marshall; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Jacqueline Wong