Asian shares eke out 19-month highs on Tuesday as the potential for economic stimulus in the United States underpinned the dollar, bond yields and Wall Street stocks.
However, markets are still shaky since experts says that it his highly likely that the Federal Reserve, will have two or more U.S. interest rate hikes this year. U.S. Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen will have an upcoming congressional testimony later in the global trading day.
Japanese shares also ran into trouble after Toshiba Corp (6502.T) delayed an anxiously-awaited earnings release, including details of a multibillion dollar charge related to cost overruns at its U.S. nuclear arm.
Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average NIK, -1.13% was down 0.1%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index HSI, -0.06% was off 0.3% and Korea’s Kospi SEU, -0.22% slipped 0.1%.
Singapore’s Strait Times Index STI, -1.19% was down 0.9% after three days of gains, as concerns about bank earnings cut into sentiment. Oversea-Chinese O39, -3.28% dropped 2.7% following weak fourth-quarter earnings. DBS D05, -2.96% and United Overseas Bank U11, -1.52% which report later this week, fell 2.1% and 0.7%, respectively. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 XJO, -0.10% was up 0.4% and New Zealand’s NZX-50 NZ50GR, +0.22% was 0.4% higher.
In the U.S. overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, the Nasdaq Composite and the Russell 2000 all reached record highs which is a clear sign that Donald Trump is good for the economy!
