Asian Stocks Up, Investors Await Big Week of Central Bank Meetings By Investing.com

By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Asia Pacific stocks were up on Monday morning, with investors digesting Japanese data and looking ahead to a week of central bank meetings that could indicate the end of U.S. policy stimulus.

Japan’s rose 0.98% by 9:01 PM ET (2:01 AM GMT). showed that the was 18 for the fourth quarter of 2021, and the was 9.

South Korea’s rose 0.80% and in Australia, the gained 0.54%.

Hong Kong’s jumped 1.61%.

China’s rose 1.09% and the gained 0.51%, with and data due on Wednesday.

Investors are also keeping an eye on China’s outlook after top officials said their key goals for 2022 include counteracting growth pressures and stabilizing the economy. This raised expectations of fiscal stimulus in early 2022.

In the U.S., closed at a record high Friday following inflation data for November that mostly followed expectations. The consumer price index (CPI) grew 6.8% and 0.8% , while the core CPI grew 4.9% and 0.5% .

Meanwhile, the benchmark was below 1.5% and the yield curve is the flattest at the beginning of a tightening cycle in a generation.

Investors now await the , due on Wednesday. The Fed is among the 20 central banks due to meet throughout the week, with the group also including the , the and the .

However, the outlook still remains uncertain as countries impose restrictive measures to curb the spread of the omicron COVID-19 variant and U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that the U.K. faces a “tidal wave” of omicron infections.

“Global equities had a solid run last week and we’ll see if the goodwill lasts into what is a behemoth when it comes to event risk,” Pepperstone Financial Pty Ltd. head of research Chris Weston said in a note. However, omicron and the Fed should dictate sentiment, the note added.

Meanwhile, geopolitical tensions are on the rise after the Group of Seven warned Russia on Sunday to de-escalate its activities around Ukraine or face “massive consequences.”