By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Asia Pacific stocks were mostly up on Monday morning, as the war in Ukraine sparked by Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24 enters a second month. Also, markets are being affected by tightening U.S. money policy.

Japan’s was down 0.41% by 11:27 PM ET (3:27 AM GMT) while South Korea’s inched up 0.07%.

Australia saw a 0.45% increase in the number of people who voted.

Hong Kong’s rose 1.01%.

China’s edged up 0.19% while the fell 0.68%, with  to curb rising numbers of COVID-19 cases.

U.S. Treasuries were mixed following a bond rout. This was caused by the fear that U.S. Federal Reserve might increase interest-rate increases to control inflation. They fell, but they remained above the technical trend line which has been effectively a ceiling since late 1980s. New Zealand and Australia also saw bond prices fall.

The war in Ukraine continues to disrupt commodity supply chains, as well as the tendency towards tighter central banks monetary policy. Two percentile points more Fed rate hikes will be expected by investors for the remainder of this year. This has caused further volatility to the stock, bond, and currency markets.

“The Fed is trying to create a Goldilocks scenario by engineering a soft landing,” Nuveen chief investment officer Saira Malik told Bloomberg. “The equity markets are buying it and the bond markets aren’t.”

Malik stated that she expected only moderate effects on global growth due to the war. However, economic expansion will be strong enough for inflation to stop.

Ukraine and Russia will reportedly resume in-person talks within the week, with the U.S. in damage control mode after President Joe Biden said that Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power.” Secretary of State Antony Blinken quickly clarified that the U.S. does not have a strategy for regime change.

Although global shares have clawed back some losses from the Russian invasion, other investors are questioning the gains’ durability.

It may be that what we’re seeing is “more a bear-market rally,” Pepperstone Financial Pty head of research Chris Weston said in a note. Investment flows related to portfolio rebalancing at the end of March 2022 and the first quarter could lead to “big and questionable moves,” the note added.

Biden, on the other hand, will publish his budget for 2023 later today, while Australia releases its budget for next year on Tuesday.

Andrew Bailey, Bank of England Governor, will speak later in day. Patrick Harker from Philadelphia, Thomas Barkin from Richmond Fed, John Williams, President of the New York Fed, will also be speaking Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

The U.S. will release its data on Wednesday and the U.S. jobs report on Friday. China will release the and purchasing manager indexes on Thursday. A day later, it will publish the.