SINGAPORE, March 23 — Asian equities hit three week highs today as cash fleeing tumbling bond markets flowed back toward big tech and other beaten-up sectors, while the Ukraine conflict’s potential to further hit supplies kept oil and commodity prices high.
Bond markets extended their retreat as investors braced for the Federal Reserve to take an even more aggressive approach to taming inflation. Two-year Treasury yields are up 76 basis points in March and 10-year yields are up almost 60 bps to 2.4154 per cent, the highest since 2019. “At some point the market might start pricing in an economic downturn, particularly if the Fed embarks on a series of 50 bp hikes.”
Tech behemoths Tencent and Alibaba and food-delivery giant led the Hang Seng tech index up by more than 3 per cent.