EQUITIES
Asia-Pacific stocks rose in Tuesday trade, with the Nikkei 225 in Japan leading gains regionally, trading 1.87% higher. The South Korea’s KOSPI advanced 0.66%, while the Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 and Shanghai composite traded above the flatline.
The Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index and the Straits Times index in Singapore traded lower, declined 0.39% and 0.19%, respectively.
Overnight on Wall Street, all three main indexes were trading higher, led by consumer discretionary, industrials and technology stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2% to 35,748.74, the S&P 500 gained 0.48% to 4,566.86 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.85% to 15,218.40.
European stocks expected to open slightly higher, as investors continued to monitor corporate earnings, COVID-19, and the inflation picture.
OIL
Oil prices extend its advance on Tuesday, as tight global supply and strengthening fuel demand supported prices. The Brent now traded at $86.14 per barrel, and U.S. crude futures traded at $83.78 per barrel.
Overnight, the Brent ends at $85.99 a barrel, and the WTI settled at $83.76 per barrel.
CURRENCIES
The yields on 10-year Treasury notes were at 1.643%, eased off a five-month high of 1.706% last week. U.S. Treasury yields were lower as uncertainty about when the Fed would raise rates to curb rising inflation weighed on market sentiment.
The dollar rose 0.1% on Tuesday, held at 93.910, recovering from a near one-month trough hit during the previous session.
GOLD
Gold prices edged lower on Tuesday, weighed down by an uptick in the dollar as investors eye upcoming key central bank meetings this week.
Spot gold fell 0.31% to $1,807.80 per ounce, and U.S. gold futures was flat at $1,803.80.
Spot silver fell 0.48% to $24.47 per ounce. Platinum edged 0.94% down to $1,053.80 and palladium slipped 0.35% to $2,041.00.
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
Asian stocks inched higher on Tuesday, as earnings optimism lifted the broader economic outlook, though a fresh COVID-19 outbreak and worries in China's property sector caps gains.
China has said it will roll out a pilot real estate tax in some regions, adding to existing investor concerns about real estate in the mainland. The country also warned that its latest COVID-19 outbreak - across 11 provinces - was likely to spread further, with authorities discouraging travel to contain it.
Electric vehicle battery maker stocks mostly surge on Tuesday, after car rental firm Hertz announced it will be ordering 100,000 vehicles from Tesla by the end of 2022. In Japan, Panasonic shares jumped 5.5%. South Korea’s LG Chem, owner of electric battery maker LG Energy Solution, gained 1.22%. Over in Hong Kong, shares of BYD rising 0.95% and Xpeng soaring 11.47%. In mainland China, however, shares of Contemporary Amperex Technology dipped 0.55% after earlier surging more than 4%.
Due for earnings releases Tuesday including from UPS, General Electric, Alphabet, Microsoft, Twitter, Hasbro, Robinhood, and AMD.
