Asian stocks recover on firmer futures, US yields decline By Reuters

By Paulina Duran and Matt Scuffham

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Asian stocks recovered from earlier losses on Tuesday, supported by firmer US equity futures and comments from the central bank aimed at allaying fears of rising bond yields and inflation.

A decline in US bond yields also supported equity markets.

rose 1.02% on Tuesday afternoon, while the largest MSCI index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside of Japan was 0.10% higher.

Chinese blue chips added 0.03%, after hitting their lowest level earlier this year.

People’s Bank of China vice-governor Chen Yulu told Yicai Global that China’s money supply will only grow to match GDP growth, and the country’s central bank sees no need for it. major support over the next five years. [https://

NASDAQ futures bounced 1.1% and 0.73%. European futures were slightly lower, however, with EUROSTOXX 50 futures down 0.13% and futures 0.25% lower.

“I suspect that is what’s leading the better tone in Asia,” Stephen Miller, market strategist for GSFM Funds Management, referring to U.S. futures and the central banker’s remarks.

“From time to time soothing comments coming from officials – whether PBOC officials, whether Fed Reserve, ECB or the Reserve Bank of Australia officials – might calm markets but I think all of those things would prove ephemeral if U.S. bond yields continue to march higher, and I think there’s a significant risk of that.”

Miller added that an easing in U.S. 10-year Treasury bond yields also helped sentiment.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Monday that President Joe Biden’s coronavirus aid package would provide enough resources to fuel a “very strong” U.S. economic recovery, and noted “there are tools” to deal with inflation.

Despite the positive cues, investors remain conflicted over whether the stimulus will help global growth rebound faster from the COVID-19 downturn or cause the world’s biggest economy to overheat and lead to runaway inflation.

“The chance of our seeing more inflation in the economy is meaningfully increased by the monetary policy actions and the fiscal policy actions that we’re seeing around the world,” Goldman Sachs (NYSE:) Chief Executive Officer David Solomon told a conference in Sydney via webcast.

“There is certainly a reasonable outcome where inflation accelerates more quickly than people are expecting, and that will obviously have an impact on markets and volatility.”

The technology sector and other richly valued companies have been highly susceptible to the rising rates.

Australian shares tracked overnight gains on Wall Street with the main climbing as much as 1.04% on Tuesday. However, Australian tech stocks slid for the sixth straight session in line with their U.S. peers.

The index gave back those gains to be only 0.48% higher in afternoon trading following the tech declines. Hong Kong’s advanced 1.4%, while South Korea’s fell 0.74%.

U.S. economic data pointed to a continued recovery, as the Commerce Department said wholesale inventories increased solidly in January despite a surge in sales, suggesting inventory investment could again contribute to growth in the first quarter.

On Wall Street, the Dow advanced overnight while the Nasdaq shed over 2%, marking a more than 10% fall since its Feb. 12 closing high and confirming a correction in the index’s value.

The rose 0.97%, the lost 0.54%, and the dropped 2.41%.

“If rates are grinding higher because people are getting optimistic about what economic growth looks like, that is still supportive for equity prices,” said Tom Hainlin, global investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management’s Ascent Private Wealth Group in Minneapolis.

U.S. Treasury yields have been advancing as investors price in higher inflation and more upbeat prospects for the U.S. economy as it emerges from the coronavirus pandemic.

On foreign exchange markets, the held near a 3-1/2-month high against its rivals as expectations of a faster economic normalisation from the pandemic in the United States put the currency at an advantage. The euro was up 0.1% at $1.185.

Oil prices rose on Tuesday, helped by a likely drawdown in crude oil inventories in the United States, the world’s biggest fuel consumer.

futures were up 56 cents, or 0.82%, at $68.80 per barrel. futures were 50 cents, or 0.75% higher at $65.55.

added 0.4% to $1,687.66 an ounce.