Asian Markets Carve Out Gains Ahead Of U.S. Inflation Report

Asian Stock Markets

Investors in Asia-Pacific stock markets began shaking off their earlier caution ahead of the latest U.S. reading on inflation, which is likely to give some idea about whether the Federal Reserve will accelerate its pace of interest-rate increases. 

Nikkei closes up 0.6% as yen gains ease slightly

Shares across the region started to eke out gains in the afternoon or pare losses after a subdued start, following overnight falls in heavyweight U.S. industrials.

Recent inflation reports from the U.S. have been sources of volatility in markets as investors try to guess the trajectory of Fed policy tightening.

Japanese stocks closed up 0.6%, after posting losses most of the morning. Gains in the yen eased a touch as investors took a largely sanguine view of continuing calls for the resignation of Finance Minister Taro Aso over his ministry's involvement in altering documents in a controversial land sale. The buyer of the land was a private-school operator allegedly tied to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's wife.

Tech stocks logged gains after Nasdaq's record close overnight, its second in a row. Samsung Electronics (005930.SE) was up 2.5% in Seoul, helping push up the Kospi 0.2%, while Taiwan's Taiex benchmark gained 0.9%, buoyed by gains of 2% or more for Apple suppliers Largan Precision (3008.TW) and Taiwan Semiconductor (2330.TW) .

Tencent (0700.HK) was up a fraction after earlier falls, helping limit losses on the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong (0700.HK) .

On mainland China, Shanghai stocks were down 0.3% after news the country plans to merge its banking and insurance regulators. Beijing has previously tightened the screws on stock-market investing by companies in these two sectors. Stocks in Shenzhen were largely flat after regaining ground from a weak start.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slipped led regional declines, falling 0.4% on weakness in major mining and oil stocks. BHP Billiton (BHP.AU) (BLT.LN) (BHP.AU) and Rio Tinto (RIO) (RIO) (RIO) were down 0.8% and 2.0% respectively, while Woodside fell 0.3% after Monday's fresh drop in oil prices. Banks also took a hit from the start of an inquiry into financial industry misconduct.

Commodity prices were lower, with oil futures down 0.3%. In Hong Kong, Chinese oil explorer and producer Cnooc (0883.HK) was down 2.4%.

New Zealand stocks traded higher throughout the day with the NZX 50 ending at a second-straight record close.

S&P futures were up 0.05%, suggesting a muted start also for U.S. stocks.