By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Asia Pacific stocks were up on Tuesday morning, with a rally in technology shares and solid corporate earnings softening concerns about inflationary pressures.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 and South Korea’s KOSPI both fell 0.61% by 10:59 PM ET (2:59 AM GMT).
In Australia, the ASX 200 edged up 0.16%, with the Reserve Bank of Australia releasing the minutes from its latest meeting earlier in the day,
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index jumped 1.22%.
China’s Shanghai Composite was up 0.42% while the ShenzhenComponent was 0.45%. In the latest regulatory developments, authorities are considering asking media companies, including Tencent Holdings (OTC:TCEHY) Ltd. (HK:0700) and ByteDance Ltd. to let rivals access and display their content in search results.
The National People’s Congress Standing Committee also opened a meeting, taking place until Oct. 23 and where a review of the anti-monopoly regulations will be discussed.
Although recent earnings have been strong, investors are also expecting central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, to hike interest rates earlier than expected in response to inflationary pressures.
“The world is watching interest rates more closely than it has for some time, and rightly so, the moves have been emphatic, especially in the short-term maturities,” Pepperstone Financial Pty head of research Chris Weston said in a note.
It is “impressive how resilient and calm markets are in the face of the rates repricing,” the note added.
AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), Barclays PLC (LON:BARC), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) and Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) are among the companies reporting earnings throughout the week.
Meanwhile, oil paused its recent rally, with investors looking to see how higher costs for energy and raw materials are affecting corporate margins.
“We are going to get a lot of information on whether margins are being squeezed by these shortages and higher prices and wages continuing to go up,” Advisors Capital Management partner and portfolio manager JoAnne Feeney told Bloomberg.
The Delta-plus COVID-19 variant could be among sources of volatility in the next few months, she added.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will take part in a policy panel discussion on Friday, while Bank Indonesia will hand down its policy decision later in the day.
In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin traded around $62,000 as ETF issuer ProShares prepares to launch its bitcoin futures fund on the New York Stock Exchange later in the day.