Asian shares tracked solid Wall Street performance on Wednesday as strong overnight earnings for U.S. retail giants pointed to further scope for the Federal Reserve to tackle inflation with rate hikes.
"Clearly they're a bit more worried about wage inflation and a very tight labour market, that's been a big recent development," Speizer said. "Retail sales should have been more resilient given the lower prices at pump improved the spending power of the average American household, and Amazon Prime Day in the month possibly attracted bargain hunters as well," wrote Saxo Bank analysts in a note, while pointing to"modest" consensus expectations of 0.1 per cent.