EQUITIES

Asia stocks mostly rebounded higher on Tuesday after plunging the previous day, despite worries over a COVID-19 surge and potential lockdowns in Beijing.

The Shanghai composite was up nearly 1%, and Hong Kong’s benchmarks Hang Seng index jumped 1.86% after dropping more than 3% the previous day. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.72%, while the South Korea’s Kospi added 0.50%.

Australian stocks however fell as trading resumed from a holiday on Monday. The S&P/ASX 200 dipped 1.90%.

Overnight on Wall Street, U.S. stocks were in negative territory earlier in the day but recovered by the close on rally by growth stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7% to end at 34,049.46 points, the S&P 500 gained 0.57% to 4,296.12, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.3% to 13,004.85.

OIL

Oil prices were slightly higher on Tuesday, after falling sharply in the prior session as COVID-19 fears in China raised demand fears and as the U.S. dollar rose to a two-year high.

International benchmark Brent crude futures rose 0.86% to $103.51 per barrel, and U.S. WTI contracts climbed to $99.46.

Both contracts settled down around 4% on Monday, with Brent down as much as $7 in the session and WTI dipping roughly $6 a barrel.

CURRENCIES

US 10-year Treasury yields eased on Tuesday, was last at 2.812%. A hawkish Fed-induced highs, as the China lockdown and growth fears sent investors to the safety of U.S. bonds.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 101.594, just off its overnight two-year peak of 101.86. It has gained 3.3% so far this month, which would be its largest month of gains since November 2015.

Bitcoin was a little firmer at $40,600, and ether was at $3,000.

GOLD

Gold firmed above a near four-week low hit in the previous session as lower U.S. Treasury yields lifted prices and a slight retreat in the dollar offered support. Worries over impending interest rate hikes by the Fed pressured gold prices overnight to their lowest level since March 29.

Spot gold on Tuesday was up 0.3% at $1,904.00 per ounce, while U.S. gold futures were up 0.4% at $1,903.70.

Spot silver gained 0.5% to $23.73 per ounce, platinum rose 0.6% to $926.50 and palladium advanced 1.2% to $2,170.42. Palladium prices dipped nearly 13% on Monday.

ECONOMIC OUTLOOK

Asian shares were cautiously higher on Tuesday on renewed buying interest, taking cue from late revival overnight from Wall Street, though global growth fears stoked by China’s stringent COVID-19 curbs and an expected streak of aggressive Federal Reserve tightening sapped risk appetite. Conditions around Ukraine remain volatile.

Wall Street rebounded on Monday on bargain-hunting activities ahead of corporate earnings releases from technology giants later this week. Among the company under the spotlight are Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta Platforms, and Intel.

Lockdown in China’s financial hub Shanghai has dragged into a fourth week, as authorities stick to their “dynamic zero-COVID” policy to combat the latest outbreak of cases. Markets reacted negatively to news, prompting fears of additional lockdowns and reduced output to weigh on the economic growth outlook and investment sentiment.

On top of that, markets have also been fretting that an aggressive pace of Fed tightening could derail the global economy, which has only just started to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Hawkish comments by various policymakers last week raised the risks of aggressive interest rate policy tightening by global central banks. The most significant of these came from the U.S. Federal Reserve which markets expect to raise rates by a half a percentage point at each of its next two meetings.