TOKYO / NEW YORK, March 16 (Reuters) – Asian equities rose on Tuesday, following a breakthrough from key Wall Street indices to record highs, while investors watched key central bank meetings this week , starting with the US Federal Reserve.
A stock market index in the region, excluding Japan, strengthened by 0.7%, driven by a 1.2% increase in the Australian benchmark S & P / ASX 200.
The Japanese Nikkei 225 gained 0.6% to just under 30,000, while the broader Topix added 0.5%.
The Chinese blue CSI 300 index rose 0.7% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.7%.
On Monday, the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average rose on both rising travel stocks and mass vaccinations in the United States and the approval by Congress of a $ 1.9 trillion aid bill fueled investor optimism.
E-mini futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.06%.
Investors are focusing on the two-day political meeting of the Fed, which will end on Wednesday, as bond yields rose this year for investors betting that central bankers will have to raise rates sooner than previously reported to contain inflation. Fed decision makers 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 type before this … difficult week for a central bank,” TD Securities analysts wrote.
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 139.84 points, or 1.05%, to 13,459.71.
Airline stocks have risen as companies have shown concrete signs of industry recovery, as vaccine launches help boost leisure reserves.
Germany, France and Italy paused to photograph 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 flat on Monday, after reaching its highest level since February 2020.
The US Treasury’s longer-term yields slipped further on Tuesday as the market watched the Fed meeting and the latest government debt auctions.
The 10-year benchmark yield, which reached a one-year high of 1.642% last week, returned to 1.595%
Rising inflation expectations could prompt the Federal Open Market Committee to signal that rates will start to rise sooner than expected.
In foreign currency, the US dollar registered small gains overnight in price reduction actions, before the central bank meetings.
The dollar was largely flat at 109,165 yen, after rising Monday to 109,365 months for the first time since June.
The euro traded slightly at $ 1.19320, losing for an eighth session below the closely watched $ 1.20 level.
Bitcoin continued to slide from a record high of $ 61,781.83 on Saturday, trading 3% lower that day at around $ 53,915.
Intermediate crude oil in West Texas in April changed hands at $ 64.79 a barrel, down 60 cents. Gross futures for May amounted to $ 68.21 per barrel, losing 67 cents.
Reporting by Kevin Buckland and Elizabeth Dilts Marshall; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Jacqueline Wong