The markets in Asia were mostly positive on Tuesday after Dow futures rose in overnight trading Monday as investors assessed a more aggressive Federal Reserve. Meanwhile, Australia’s central bank agreed this morning to raise interest rates by 50 basis points this month to prevent increasing inflation from becoming entrenched.
As of 10.00 hrs. local time in Thailand, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index climbed 0.90%, with tech stocks Tencent and Alibaba posting increases of 1.62% and 0.19% respectively.
Japan’s Nikkei was 1.76% higher while the Kospi in South Korea was up 0.42%. Australia’s ASX 200 rose 1.34%
Meanwhile, mainland China’s Shanghai Composite dropped 0.38%.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose almost 1.3%, or 380 points. S&P 500 futures soared 1.12% and Nasdaq 100 futures also surged 1.14%.
Philip Lowe, the governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, stated earlier that he expected Australia’s inflation rate to peak at roughly 7% by the end of the year as pandemic-related supply chain disruptions ease.
Lowe said that monetary policy tightening and global interest rate increases would act in tandem to reduce inflation by balancing the demand and supply of products.
