Asian shares rise on easing geopolitical tensions, fx mixed

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South Korea and Philippine shares led

gains among Asian shares on Wednesday as easing geopolitical

tensions between Russia and Ukraine lifted sentiment for riskier

assets.

Asian currencies were largely mixed, though the South Korean

won firmed slightly .

Philippine shares jumped as much as 1.6% in their

best session in two weeks, while South Korea’s KOSPI and

the Taiwanese benchmark each gained more than 1.5%.

Investors globally breathed relief late on Tuesday after

Russia indicated it was returning some troops to base from

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exercises, easing geopolitical tensions over a potential war in

Ukraine.

Attention is now turned towards the U.S. Federal Reserve

meeting minutes to be released later in the global day for any

potential clues on the pace of U.S. interest rate hikes.

U.S. producer price inflation surged in January at twice the

expected rate, reinforcing expectations that the Fed will

aggressively hike rates. Markets have already priced in a 50

basis point hike in March.

“While the higher-than-expected U.S. PPI was shrugged off by

markets which have their focus on the easing geopolitical

tensions, the Fed minutes release today will provide the next

test for markets, which will be clearly set to carry a hawkish

bias,” analysts from IG Group said in a research note.

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Elsewhere, the South Korean won rose as much as

0.2% after the East Asian nation reported a decrease in its

unemployment rate, while the Indonesian rupiah and the

Philippine peso edged higher.

However, the Malaysian ringgit was weighed down by

fall in Brent crude prices, slipping about 0.1%. Malaysia is one

of the world’s largest exporters of liquefied natural gas.

Elsewhere in share markets, the Chinese benchmark

gained about 0.7% as Asia’s largest economy’s factory-gate

inflation cooled more than expected in January, and was its

slowest rate since July, which could point to further policy

easing by the nation’s central bank.

The Singapore market was the only laggard, falling as

much as 0.3%, as the island state reported a single-day record

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high in COVID-19 cases on Tuesday.

Markets in Thailand were closed on account

of a public holiday.

HIGHLIGHTS:

** Indonesia’s benchmark 10-year yield edges down to 6.509%

** Top gainers in South Korea’s benchmark include chip

giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix

gaining 0.95% and 3.54% respectively

** Thailand approves incentives to promote EV shift

Asia stock indexes and currencies

at 0331 GMT

COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX INDE STOCKS STOCKS

DAILY % YTD % X DAILY YTD %

%

Japan -0.06 -0.53 <.n2>

China EC>

India +0.00 -1.33 <.ns ei>

Indonesi +0.07 -0.28 <.jk a se>

Malaysia -0.06 -0.55 <.kl se>

Philippi +0.04 -0.58 <.ps nes i>

S.Korea 11>

Singapor -0.07 +0.26 <.st e i>

Taiwan +0.11 -0.61 <.tw ii>

Thailand 0.00 +3.25 <.se ti>

(Reporting by Archishma Iyer; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)