Asian equities rose ahead of CPI data; focus now on US CPI

Wall Street provided a mixed lead-in for regional markets, as advances in US stocks currently seemed to be tapering down after reaching a new high last week. In Tuesday's Asian trading, the S&P 500, Nasdaq, and Dow Jones futures all saw little declines of around 0.1%.

Asian trade volumes were relatively low due to a week-long market holiday in China and Hong Kong, which also resulted in a lack of regional signals.

Among its regional counterparts, the Nikkei 225 was a notable exception, rising 2.5% to a 34-year high on the strength of significant technology firms after chipmaker Tokyo Electron and investment company SoftBank Group reported good profits.

Tokyo Electron saw a roughly 11% increase to a three-year high following the company's December quarter profit report, which also indicated rising demand in China.

SoftBank continued to advance after recording its first profitable quarter in five, rising 6.7% to a nearly three-year high. The stock also followed the advances made overnight in its chip division, Arm, whose US shares increased 29% on Monday due to ongoing excitement about its potential in the burgeoning field of artificial intelligence.

Gains in the two computer majors had a ripple effect on the industry. Following Deputy BOJ Governor Uchida's statement that the BOJ will raise interest rates this year, it will probably do so gradually, signaling ongoing easy monetary conditions for local markets, Japanese stocks likewise enjoyed prolonged rises.

Asian markets have been suffering recently from waning expectations of early interest rate cuts by the Fed.

Key event today:

• US CPI Data at 13:30 GMT

(Sources: investing.com, reuters.com)