Wall Street relief rally buoys Asia markets

Asia-Pacific shares rose as global sentiment brightened in the wake of a rebound on Wall Street led by big technology stocks including Tesla, Apple and Amazon.

China’s CSI 300 index of Shanghai- and Shenzhen-listed stocks was up 0.9 per cent on Wednesday afternoon, rebounding from a fall of about 2 per cent the previous day that took it deeper into “correction” territory.

Japan’s Topix added 0.1 per cent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.2 per cent as state-run China Telecom advanced as much as 9.8 per cent after announcing plans for a second listing in Shanghai.

Futures tipped US shares to edge down when trading begins on Wall Street, with the S&P 500 expected to drop 0.3 per cent. The FTSE 100 was set to fall 0.8 per cent.

The gains in Asia followed a relief rally in the US as investors snapped up shares hit by a sell-off in the previous session, shrugging off concerns that rising Treasury yields could undermine historically high valuations.

The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite closed up 3.7 per cent in its best one-day performance since November a day after the dropping into correction territory. Shares in Tesla rose 20 per cent, while Apple and Amazon each gained about 4 per cent.

The broader S&P 500 index gained 1.4 per cent.

Recent declines have been dominated by an investor shift away from Big Tech companies and other so-called growth stocks that have performed well during the pandemic, in favour of more economically sensitive shares such as banks and airlines that are poised to benefit from the improving global outlook.

Rising long-term interest rates, buoyed by stronger growth expectations, have also weighed on stock markets, with higher borrowing costs viewed as damaging to the future cash flows of highly valued shares, particularly in tech.

“Equities are performing in a manner that we thought was plausible with the rotation towards value [investing],” said Tobias Levkovich, chief US equity strategist at Citigroup. “We contend that this could continue as the economic data improves and inflation numbers worry [Wall Street].”

US Treasuries were little moved in Asia trading, after US government debt extended its rebound on Tuesday with the 10-year Treasury yield falling 0.05 percentage points to 1.537 per cent. Yields fall as bond prices rise.

Investors were looking ahead to a Treasury department auction on Wednesday of $38bn of 10-year notes, followed by a sale of $24bn in 30-year bonds on Thursday. Some analysts have expressed concern over a lack of demand for incoming supply in the world’s largest government bond market.