By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Asia Pacific stocks were mixed on Tuesday morning, alongside U.S. equity futures, with investors weighing the impact of tightening monetary policy on the global economic recovery from COVID-19.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.52% by 9:57 PM ET (2:57 AM GMT), with data released earlier in the day showing that household spending contracted 0.2% year-on-year while increasing 0.1% month-on-month, in December 2021. The adjusted current account stood at JPY0.79 trillion ($X), while the current account was at –JPY0.371 trillion.
South Korea’s KOSPI rose 0.94%.
In Australia, the ASX 200 rose 0.95%., with Tuesday’s National Australia Bank (NAB) business confidence index at 3.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slid 1.30%.
China’s Shanghai Composite was up 0.58% while the Shenzhen Component slid 1.58%.
U.S. shares ended the previous session on a down note, weighed down by struggling technology stocks such as Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) Group Holding Ltd.'s (OTC:BABAF) U.S. shares also dropped as much as 6.1%
and the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index fell.
Japanese government bonds were also in the spotlight, with the Bank of Japan preparing to intervene with purchases as yields move towards the upper limit of the central bank’s tolerance level.
In the U.S., longer maturity Treasuries steadied following a global bond selloff over the increased probability of interest-rate hikes to curb inflation. U.S. inflation data, including the consumer price index, is also due on Thursday.
“Markets will get used to the tightening regime at some point,” AXA Investment Managers’ chief investment officer, core investments, said in a note.
“The growth and earnings forecast revisions in the next few months will be key.”
Global shares are down about 5% so far in 2022 to date, while sovereign debt from Europe to the U.S. to Australia also fell.
Investors are grappling with the likely broader impact of U.S. Federal Reserve policy, “particularly within credit markets,” Citi Global Wealth head of North America investments Kristen Bitterly told Bloomberg.
“That is what most investors are looking at right now in terms of what can actually interject volatility into the broader market,” she said.
Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester will speak on Wednesday, while Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey will speak a day later.