Asia shares track Wall Street gains amid easing US inflation fears

By Julie Zhu

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Asian shares climbed in early trade on Tuesday, tracking a Wall Street rally overnight, while the dollar held near a fourth-month low as investors tempered fears about inflation-driven rate hikes.

In early trade, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.81% at a two-week high, after U.S. stocks ended the previous session with mild gains.

Australian shares were up 0.76%, while Japan's Nikkei stock index rose 0.63%. China's blue-chip CSI300 index jumped 0.22% in morning trade, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index opened up 0.41%.

"Markets were buoyed as data flow didn't live up to the strong-inflation narrative, and amid repeated guidance from senior central bank figures that the current rise in inflation is temporary," ANZ analysts wrote in a note.

The U.S. national activity index reading of 0.24 against expectations above 1, along with dovish comments from Federal Reserve speakers, helped support the view that policy will remain on hold for some time.

Still, after global service sector surveys showed strong growth last Friday, all eyes will be on the release of U.S. personal consumption data on Thursday, the Fed's preferred inflation measure.

Overnight, Wall Street closed higher, spurred by gains in tech stocks, with the sector's majors Apple up 1.33% and Microsoft up 2.29%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.54% while the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 0.99% and 1.41%, respectively.

Treasury yields, which fell on Monday after a few Fed officials affirmed their support to keep monetary policy accommodative for some time, were little changed. The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes was at 1.6046%, near a two-week low.

Digital currencies bounced back following last week's crypto rout, regaining ground lost during a weekend selloff on news of China's clamp-down on mining and trading of cryptocurrencies.

After shedding 13% on Sunday, Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, was last up 1% on Tuesday at approximately $39,230.

By early Tuesday, the dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies of other major trading partners, edged down to 89.779, just above a four-month low. The European single currency was up 0.1% on the day at $1.2222, having gained 1.7% in a month.

U.S. crude ticked up 0.02% to $66.06 a barrel. Brent crude rose to $68.54 per barrel.

Gold was slightly lower. Spot gold was traded at $1,876.66 per ounce. [GOL/]

 

(Reporting by Julie Zhu; editing by Richard Pullin)