Alun John and Xie Yu

HONG KONG (Reuters – Asian shares gained on Wednesday, with tech stocks gaining a significant boost after a strong session at Wall Street. U.S. treasury yields stayed near multiyear highs before closely watching inflation data this week.

Investments of all asset types pay close attention to when and how fast central banks increase interest rates.

The consumer price index, barring any major surprises, should confirm expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve would raise interest rates next month. A strong print will offer additional support for those who tip the scales at a greater 50 basis point increase.

MSCI’s Asia-Pacific broadest index outside Japan grew 1%, thanks to a 3% increase in tech stocks listed in Hong Kong.

Gained 0.9%

With tech stocks like Apple Inc (NASDAQ) closing higher, all three major Wall Street Indexes ended higher. Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ): Stocks in banks rose as a result of the possibility of rising U.S. rates. [.N]

However, it is down 9.2% in 2015 after an extremely difficult January.

Manishi Raychaudhuri (OTC) Asia-Pacific Equity Strategist at BNP Paribas, said that market volatility was still lingering while investors tried to determine how frequently, how far, and how quickly central banks will raise interest rates.

“The overarching theme for the market is central banks’ monetary policies,” he said. He said that although volatilities may continue to increase, he believes they will decrease over time. However, corporate balance sheets in the long-term look much better now than earlier. This is especially true for Asian emerging markets.

Other parts of Asia Pacific saw gains in tech names helping Korea rise 0.8%. Commonwealth Bank of Australia (OTC) also rose 5% following a share buyback of A$2billion.

Hong Kong’s financials and tech stocks saw gains of 2%. They were unaffected by the tighter COVID-19 restrictions.

Futures E-mini rose 0.2%

However, further gains will likely be limited by the U.S. inflation numbers due Thursday.

Marcella Chow, a global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management (NYSE:) Asset Management, said that even though they are based in Asia markets still anxiously await the U.S. Thursday CPI print.

She said that the market expects January’s CPI at 7.3%, compared to 7% in December. If it is higher than anticipated, we may see 10-year yields rise and reach 2%. This could push value rotation,” she continued.

Investors are more likely to leave technology-based growth stocks for higher yields and move into value stocks.

U.S. Treasury yields held strong in Asian trading after reaching multi-year highs yesterday as did yields within the eurozone.

After hitting 1.97% Tuesday, the yield on was 1.9559%. The two-year yield was 1.3435% on Tuesday, which was below its peak since March 2020. [US/]

The 10-year yield on Japanese government bonds rose by 1 basis point, to 0.215% in Asia. This is its highest level since January 2016.

Although currency markets were relatively quiet, the dollar hit a one-month peak against the yen. This was due to the fact that U.S. yields have outperformed those in Japan. [FRX/]

At 95.536 the, which compares six peers to measure the greenback was constant.

After falling in the previous week, oil gained some ground due to optimism about talks with Iran. This could lead to an increase in oil supply.

Futures rose 0.3% and reached $91.01/barrel. However, they were at $89.47/barrel which was up 0.1%. [O/R/]

It was stable at $1826 an ounce. [GOL/]