Asian Stock Market: Mildly positive on a late rebound in US markets, Fed Powell’s speech eyed

• Markets in the Asian domain part ways with the Indian bourses as the latter has slipped 0.25% on Tuesday.
• Risk-off impulse is fading away amid a decent uptick in the Asian markets.
• NATO meeting and speech from Fed’s Powell will be the major events to keep under the radar.

Markets in the Asian domain are majorly trading positive on Tuesday after a decent recovery in the US markets in the late New York session. It seems that the global equities are shrugging off the volatility of the seven interest rate hike announcements and the market mood is turning positive.

At the press time, Japan’s Nikkei 225 surges 1.50%, China A50 is mildly positive by 0.1%, and Hang Seng climbs 0.9%. However, the Indian bourses have turned negative after a bullish open.

The announcement of six additional rate hikes during the year signals that the Federal Reserve (Fed) is determined to curtail the galloping inflation although the aggressive hawkish stance taken by the Fed will squeeze the liquidity in the global markets significantly. Apart from that, the CME’s FedWatch Tool has displayed a 60% probability for a 50 basis point (bps) interest rate hike in May’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC).

Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden’s meeting with its NATO allies has gained the limelight. Although the major attention will remain on the roadmap of a diplomatic solution between Russia and Ukraine but multiple urges from the NATO member to Russian leader Vladimir Putin for a ceasefire may lead to the discussion of the additional sanctions on Moscow.

Moving forward, Wednesday‘s speech from the Fed Chair Jerome Powell will remain a major event to be watched. Fed’s Powell is likely to dictate the roadmap of six more interest rate hikes during the year.