MSCI’s broadest index of stocks in the Asia-Pacific region excluding Japan rose 1.1% in early Asian exchanges, led by a 1.5% jump in resource-rich Australia, a 1.1% gain in South Korean stocks and a 1.5% jump in Hong Kong stocks.
The Japanese Nikkei rose 2.1%.
S&P 500 futures rose 0.3%, while Nasdaq futures firmed 0.4%.
U.S. stocks closed sharply higher on Tuesday as more companies joined the big banks in posting better-than-expected results, offering respite for investors worried about rising inflation and rising currencies. Federal Reserve rates that could affect business results.
Netflix Inc predicted that it would return to customer growth this quarter, after a smaller than expected decline in subscriber numbers in the second quarter. Its shares gained 8% in after-hours trading.
The S&P 500 gained 2.8%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 3.1% on Tuesday.
“Apart from the tech-related equity rally, the news was mostly in Europe, which helped the euro back above 1.02 and European core yields higher,” Rodrigo said. Catril, senior currency strategist at NAB, in a research bond.
A Reuters report that the European Central Bank was considering a 50 basis point rate hike at its meeting on Thursday, double the hike expected by many market participants, sent the euro to its most strong one-day percentage increase for the past month.
The single currency gained 0.1% to $1.0231 in early Asian trading on Wednesday.
Sources also told Reuters that Russian gas flows through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline are expected to restart on Thursday after the completion of scheduled maintenance, allaying investor concerns about Europe’s gas supply.
“So it’s been a positive night in terms of risk, but recession fears certainly haven’t gone away and the rebound in equities over the past week could just as well reflect a recovery from oversold levels and extreme levels of pessimism. “, said Catril of NAB.
The Bank of Japan is also making a policy decision on Thursday, but is unlikely to make any changes to its ultra-light stance.
The dollar was little changed against its major peers on Wednesday, holding near two-week lows as expectations waned that the Fed would resort to a 100 basis point hike at its meeting. of the next week.
Markets are still expecting a sharp 75 basis point interest rate hike from the Fed to curb white-hot inflation.
A closely watched part of the US yield curve remained inverted on Wednesday, with the two-year yield standing at 3.2353%, little different from the previous close of 3.2310%.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond was 3.0265%, down from a close of 3.019% on Tuesday.
In the commodities market, oil prices came under pressure from global central bank efforts to curb inflation and ahead of the expected buildup of crude oil inventories in the United States due to weak product request [O/R].
US crude oil was down 0.59% at $103.6 a barrel, while Brent crude oil was down 0.36% at $106.95 a barrel.
Spot gold remained soft at $1,711 an ounce.