- Creator's death no bar to new 'Dragon Ball' products
- Chinese stocks tumble on lack of fresh stimulus
- Trio wins chemistry Nobel for protein design, prediction
- Braving war: Lebanon's 'badass' airline defies odds
- US weighs Google breakup in landmark trial
- Chinese stocks tumble on stimulus upset, Asia tracks Wall St higher
- 7-Eleven owner confirms new takeover offer from Couche-Tard
- A US climate scientist sees hurricane Helene's devastation firsthand
- Can carbon credits help close coal plants?
- Boeing suspends negotiations with striking workers
- 7-Eleven owner's shares spike on report of new buyout offer
- Your 'local everything': what 7-Eleven buyout battle means for Japan
- AI-aided research, new materials eyed for Nobel Chemistry Prize
- The US economy is solid: Why are voters gloomy?
- Scientists sound AI alarm after winning physics Nobel
- Nobel-winning physicist 'unnerved' by AI technology he helped create
- Trump secretly sent Covid tests to Putin: Bob Woodward book
- Neural networks, machine learning? Nobel-winning AI science explained
- Boeing delivers 27 MAX jets in September despite strike
- Stock markets diverge as Hong Kong sinks, oil prices fall
- US trade gap narrowest in five months as imports slip
- Stay and 'you are going to die': Florida braces for next hurricane
- Geoffrey Hinton, soft-spoken godfather of AI
- Duo wins Physics Nobel for 'foundational' AI breakthroughs
- German 'Maddie' suspect could be free in 2025 after cleared of separate sex crimes
- China slaps provisional tariffs on EU brandy imports
- Duo wins Physics Nobel for key breakthroughs in AI
- German 'Maddie' suspect could be free soon after cleared of separate sex crimes
- China says to take anti-dumping measures against EU brandy imports
- China stocks rally fizzles on stimulus worries amid Asia retreat
- China stocks rally peters out on stimulus worries amid Asia retreat
- Taiwan's Foxconn says building world's largest 'superchip' plant
- Nobel literature jury may go for non-Western writer
- From Bolivia to Indonesia, deforestation continues apace
- China holds off on fresh stimulus but 'confident' will hit growth target
- German suspect in 'Maddie' case faces verdict in sex crimes trial
- Top economic official 'confident' China will hit 2024 growth target
- COP29 fight looms over climate funds for developing world
- Shanghai stocks soar to extend stimulus rally amid Asia-wide drop
- Will Tesla's robotaxi reveal live up to hype?
- 'Invisibility' and quantum computing tipped for physics Nobel
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street falls
- 'Dark day': Victims mourned around the globe on Oct. 7 anniversary
- Mission to probe smashed asteroid launches despite hurricane
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street slips
- Europe's asteroid mission Hera launches despite hurricane
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street retreats
- What is microRNA? Nobel-winning discovery explained
- Weather may delay launch of mission to study deflected asteroid
- China to flesh out economic stimulus plans after bumper rally
Asian markets rise again on recovery hope as inflation data looms
Asian equities pushed higher Wednesday as investors were buoyed by China's reopening and optimism that key data due this week will signal a further slowdown in US inflation.
Traders tracked a Wall Street advance as they brushed off fresh warnings that Federal Reserve rates would continue to rise and a World Bank decision to slash its global growth forecast.
After a stumble Tuesday, regional markets resumed the upward push that has characterised the start of the year thanks to China's emergence from nearly three years of zero-Covid isolation.
The reopening, easing of Beijing's tech crackdown and moves to help the property sector have raised hopes for the world's number-two economy, a crucial driver of world growth.
SPI Asset Management's Stephen Innes said: "Despite a solid start to the year, there should be a lot more upside to China's stocks, with earnings upgrades to drive further outperformance.
"Although we are not pitching a tent in that camp just yet, many investors are starting to believe China's reopening could be faster than expected on pent-up demand, a robust economic rebound and fewer supply constraints."
In early trade, Hong Kong again led the gains by piling on more than one percent, having already added about eight percent in 2023. Shanghai, Tokyo, Sydney, Seoul and Singapore were also in the ascendancy, though there were small losses in Wellington, Taipei and Manila.
Focus this week is on Thursday's US consumer price index, which is expected to show that price gains eased further in December.
But while that could possibly allow the Federal Reserve to take a lighter approach to its monetary tightening campaign, policymakers continue to push back against any pivot away from rate hikes.
Markets were battered last year by fears that almost a year of hikes will tip the economy into recession.
Bank boss Jerome Powell said that "restoring price stability when inflation is high can require measures that are not popular in the short term as we raise interest rates to slow the economy".
Meanwhile, Fed governor Michelle Bowman said that while inflation was coming down, "we have a lot more work to do" and that once rates had peaked they would have to stay there for some time.
She added that "unemployment has remained low as we have tightened monetary policy and made progress in lowering inflation".
"I take this as a hopeful sign that we can succeed in lowering inflation without a significant economic downturn," she said.
And JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said borrowing costs could actually go higher than the five percent priced in by markets, suggesting they could hit six percent.
There was little reaction to the World Bank slashing its 2023 global growth forecast by about half and a warning that the economy was "perilously close" to recession owing to high inflation, rising interest rates and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Economists have warned of a slump in the world economy as countries battle soaring costs and central banks simultaneously hike interest rates to cool demand amid ongoing disruptions from the war in Ukraine.
The World Bank's latest forecast points to a "sharp, long-lasting slowdown", with growth pegged at 1.7 percent this year, roughly half the pace it predicted in June, according to its Global Economic Prospects report.
- Key figures around 0230 GMT -
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.1 percent at 26,457.56 (break)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: 1.5 percent at 21,642.27
Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.3 percent at 3,177.88
Dollar/yen: UP at 132.44 yen from 132.21 yen on Tuesday
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0733 from $1.0739
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2156 from $1.2153
Euro/pound: DOWN at 88.31 pence from 88.34 pence
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.8 percent at $74.54 a barrel
Brent North Sea crude: DOWN 0.7 percent at $79.51 a barrel
New York - Dow: UP 0.6 percent at 33,704.10 (close)
London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.4 percent at 7,694.49 (close)
St.Ch.Baker--CPN