Equities Climbed, Treasuries Dipped; Market Sentiment Boosted on Potential Chinese Easing of Curbs

Most asian stock closed nearing 1% on Tuesday on sentiment boosted by Chinese easing of restrictions.

Stocks in Europe rose Tuesday along with US equity futures as risk appetite returned to markets roiled in recent weeks by concerns about global economic growth, surging prices and policy tightening.

Shares in Mainland China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and Thailand closed higher. The MSCI Asian Index ex Japan climbed higher by 0.24%.

Following rally in Chinese tech stocks on easing of regulatory clampdown, broad based Stoxx Europe 600 rallied.

Meanwhile, Shanghai reported three days of zero community transmission, a milestone that could lead officials to start unwinding a punishing lockdown. Flareups elsewhere in China showed how hard it is to tackle the omicron strain.

Equities were also buoyed by data showing the euro-area economy expanded more than initially estimated at the start of the year as the region moved past a wave of Covid-19 infections and defied headwinds from the early days of the war in Ukraine.

U.S. Treasury yields rose and the dollar retreated.

Contracts on the S&P 500 bounced back after a Wall Street drop, while futures on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 jumped more than 2%.

“All-in-all, the price action is suggestive of a market that can’t decide what it wants to do,” said Jeffrey Halley, a market analyst at Oanda as reported by Bloomberg.

“Concerns around recessions make me feel that a decent correction lower from the dollar and US yields is increasingly likely. I’m still not sure it provides markets with a reason to turn long once again on equities.”

Crude oil climbed with the WTI trading around $115 a barrel and the Brent trading at $115 a barrel.