Marketmind: Nikkei hits post-bubble peak on Wall Street’s lead

© Reuters. A man looks at an electric monitor displaying the Japanese yen exchange rate against the U.S. dollar and Nikkei share average outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan October 4, 2023. REUTERS/Issei Kato/file photo

A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Kevin Buckland

Asian stocks followed Wall Street higher on Tuesday, boding well for Europe, with 225 standing out for a push to its highest since the “bubble economy” of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Tech shares continued their outperformance, supported by an overnight easing in U.S. Treasury yields after a New York Fed survey of inflation expectations produced the lowest reading in two years.

Fedspeak also helped sentiment, with Governor Michelle Bowman retreating from her persistently hawkish view. She now sees policy as “sufficiently restrictive” and signalled her willingness to support eventual rate cuts.

Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said his bias was to keep policy tight, but repeated his view that rate cuts are likely this year.

The all-important U.S. CPI data on Thursday will be the key test this week of whether the market momentum can be maintained.

Japanese investors were greeted with consumer inflation figures for the capital Tokyo on their return from a long weekend, and if anything, a continued cooling in price gains gives the Bank of Japan yet another reason to refrain from any hawkish gestures at its policy meeting later this month.

The New Year’s Day earthquake on Japan’s western coast had already cleared away most remaining bets for a shock stimulus exit on Jan. 23. At least 168 lives had been claimed as of Monday, with more than 300 people still missing.

Despite that, the yen was the strongest major currency in Asia on Tuesday, climbing about 0.4% against the dollar, which remained resilient against its other major peers.

Long-term Treasury yields, which tend to drive the currency pair, did pull back overnight after reaching their highest since mid-December late last week, but were still firmly above 4%.

Meanwhile, stimulus expectations were stirring in Beijing, after a PBOC official was quoted by state media as saying policy tools would be used to support reasonable growth in credit.

Key developments that could influence markets on Tuesday:

-Germany industrial production (Nov)

-Euro area unemployment rate (Nov)

(By Kevin Buckland; Editing by Edmund Klamann)

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