By Alun John

HONG KONG, (Reuters) – Asian shares began to stabilize on Monday in anticipation of major quarterly earnings announcements. The dollar hovered close to October’s lows following three weeks of risk-friendly sentiment that hurt safe-haven currencies.

HSBC (NASDAQ:) and Facebook will publish their quarterly results Monday in Asian trading or late U.S. hour respectively.

Other benchmark heavyweights will also be present, including the tech titans Microsoft (NASDAQ;) Apple (NASDAQ.) and Alphabet. Deutsche Bank (DE:), and Lloyds (LON;) to China Construction Bank (OTC) and Nomura

Chris Weston from Pepperstone’s research department in Melbourne said that this week earnings are the most important. He made these remarks in a morning paper.

These results will be carefully watched following a strong U.S. earnings season. Financials helped the reach record heights last week. The Nasdaq declined on Friday, however, after Snap (NYSE 🙂 and Intel Corp (NASDAQ:)’s quarterly results disappointed.

MSCI’s Asia-Pacific share index outside Japan also saw gains during the past week. This would make October 2022’s benchmark month.

The regional benchmark for Monday was neutral with 0.5% growth in Australia and 0.6% decline in Korea.

The U.S. lost 1%, and the U.S. lost 0.18%.

Due to fears about slowing Chinese growth and regulatory restrictions, Asian shares have been lagging their European and U.S. counterparts over the past months.

Investors are worried by the announcement made Saturday by the Chinese Parliament’s top decision-making body. It said that it would introduce a pilot real property tax in certain regions.

Citi analyst summarized the announcement by saying that it was an “earlier-than expected trial, but later-than expected national rollout; not devastating effect.”

However, safe-haven currencies have been affected by the more risk-friendly mood that has supported equities, and rising energy prices, which support currencies such as the Canadian dollar.

It was at 93.667 when it last touched its monthly low of 93.455 last week. However, the number is still well below mid-October’s 12-month peak.

CBA Analysts said that it was likely that the dollar would rise from here, rather than falling.

In a note, they stated that the Dollar risks remain tilted to the upside. They cited rising inflation expectations by consumers and policymakers. The market is pricing in aggressive interest rate rises which will support the dollar.

The markets are trying to prepare for the expected tapering by the U.S. stimulus program this year and possible rate increases late in 2022.

Jerome Powell (Federal Reserve Chair) said Friday that the U.S. central banks should reduce their support for the economy by reducing asset purchases. However, they should not raise interest rates.

Tapering is looming, and U.S. benchmark yields are rising. Yields on reached a five month high of 1.7064% last Wednesday. These yields were 1.6465% at the time in early Asia.

While oil prices have remained elevated, they were still below their multi-year peak. >LCOc1> rose 0.13% to $85.65 a barrel, while rose 0.38% to $84.08 a barrel.

The ounce gained 0.06%, to $1793.4 per ounce following gains in the previous two weeks because of rising inflation fears.

Another asset often referred to as an inflation hedge stood at $61,080 last week after experiencing a volatile week that saw it reach a record high of $67,000.