TOKYO- Global equity markets rose to a fresh record high on Wednesday as bond yields eased after data showed US inflation was not rising wildly.
Most Asia-Pacific share indexes followed Wall Street higher, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng leading gains in the region, while benchmark US Treasury yields continued their decline, marking a fresh three-week low.
Japan bucked the trend, with the Nikkei falling 0.4 percent as rising coronavirus cases raised doubts about an economic reopening with 100 days to go until Tokyo is scheduled to host the Olympics.
The US consumer price index rose 0.6 percent, the biggest increase since August 2012, as rising vaccinations and fiscal stimulus unleashed pent-up demand. But the data is unlikely to change Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s view that higher inflation in coming months will be transitory.
Powell is scheduled to speak later in the day at the Economic Club of Washington.
“The market clearly braced for higher CPI readings,” Westpac strategists wrote in a client note.
They said Tuesday’s result was “clearly being interpreted within the context of the Fed’s commitment to look through ‘transitory’ inflation impulses.”
For bond markets, the question is whether the benchmark yield can break below 1.6 percent from as low as 1.611 percent on Wednesday, they wrote. – Reuters
