Asian indexes extend gains ahead of new Fed chief’s testimony

Equity markets in Asia were mostly trading in green territory on Tuesday, following a strong lead from Wall Street for a second consecutive day and as market participants awaited a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell later in the session.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index was up by nearly 300 points from its prior close, with technology, financials and manufacturing stocks supporting the positive move.

South Korea’s Kospi added nearly 0.3 percent, with automakers, financials and financials pushing higher. Heavyweight Samsung Electronics rose by more than one percent.

Meanwhile in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 advanced a similar 0.3 percent, with financials and materials components contributing most to gains.

Wall Street’s top three indexes ended sharply higher on Monday, with the Dow Jones industrial average adding 399.28 points to finish at 25,709.27. Boing and 3M came on top of the list.

The S&P 500 rose by more than percent to 2,779.60 supported by telecommunications, technology and financials components. The Nasdaq was up 1.15 percent at 7,421.46.

<<< Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s Testimony >>>

Fed Chair Jerome Powell is expected to testify before Congress on Tuesday and Thursday as of 15:00 GMT. The newly appointed Fed chief is expected to keep a neutral tone, analysts said.

In case Powell opts to bring up rate adjustments or shows any signs of enthusiasm regarding policy changes, economic growth or the pace of inflation, the dollar might pop up.

The US dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, was trading 0.09 percent lower at 89.71 by the time of this writing.

According to Fed funds tracked by CME Group’s FedWatch program, market participants are currently weighing an 87 percent probability of a 25 basis-point rate hike by March.

<<< Asian Stock Indexes >>>

Australia ASX S&P +13.20 +0.21% 6,159.30

Shanghai Composite -37.51 -1.13% 3,292.07

Hong Kong Hang Seng -180.20 -0.57% 31,318.40

Japan Nikkei 225 +236.23 +1.07% 22,389.86

Taiwan TSEC 50 Index -21.23 -0.20% 10,815.47

<<< Next in Europe >>>

Ahead in today’s session, investors will be looking at the speech of Buba President Weidmann at 10:00 GMT and the release of February’s German consumer price index as of 13:00 GMT.

<<< Next in United States >>>

Ahead in the day, attention will be directed to durable goods orders for January at 13:30 GMT, along with the goods trade balance and CB consumer confidence gauge at 15:00 GMT.

FortFS