- Tunisia voting ends as Saied eyes re-election with critics behind bars
- Drowned by hurricane, remote N.Carolina towns now struggle for water
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Italy targets climate activists in 'anti-Gandhi' demo clampdown
- US trade chief defends tariff hikes when paired with investment
- EU court blocks French ban on vegetable 'steak' labelling
- Meta AI turns pictures into videos with sound
- US dockworkers return to ports after three-day strike
- DR Congo to begin mpox vaccination campaign Saturday in east
- Meta must limit data use for targeted ads: EU court
- Oil extends gains, jobs report lifts Wall Street
- US hiring soars past expectations in sign of resilient market
- As EU targets Chinese cars, European rivals sputter
- Top EU court finds against FIFA in key transfer market ruling
- Oil extends gains, Hong Kong stocks resume rally
- 'A man provides': Ukrainian miners send families away as Russia advances
- EU states greenlight extra tariffs on EVs from China
- Hong Kong stocks resume rally, oil dips after Middle East-fuelled surge
- Crude stable after Israel-Iran surge, Hong Kong stocks resume gains
- Hera spacecraft to probe asteroid deflected by defence test
- US dockworkers to head back to work after tentative deal
- After Helene's destruction, North Carolina starts to rebuild
- Dockers end three-day strike at Montreal port
- What next for OpenAI after $157 billion bonanza?
- Israel-Hamas war causes 86-percent dive in Gaza GDP: IMF
- Milan's Morata moves house after Inter-fan town mayor 'violates' privacy
- 'Devastating' storm hits Augusta National but Masters will go on
- Relief in Brazil, Asia over delay to EU deforestation rules
- Oil prices jump, stocks fall on Middle East tensions
- Biden says 'discussing' possible Israeli strikes on Iran oil facilities
- Oil prices rise, stocks fall on Middle East tensions
- Oil rallies, stocks mostly retreat on Middle East tensions
- Phasing out teen smoking could save 1.2 mn lives: study
- 'Welcome relief': Asia producers hail EU deforestation law delay
- Japan PM slated to announce plans for 'happiness index'
- Turkish inflation falls less than expected in September at 49.4%
- Easing inflation lifts profit at UK supermarket Tesco
- Skiing calls on UN climate science to combat melting future
- China wine industry looks to breed climate resilience
- Tokyo rallies on weak yen, Hong Kong drops after surge
- Dutch airline KLM unveils 'firm' cost-cutting measures
- Carpe diem: the Costa Rican women turning fish into fashion
- Senegal looks to aquaculture as fish stocks dwindle
- Will AI one day win a Nobel Prize?
- Climate change, economics muddy West's drive to curb Chinese EVs
- Argentina's Milei vetoes university budget after huge protests
- TotalEnergies plans to grow oil and gas production until 2030
Asian markets mixed as traders struggle to keep rally's momentum
Asian investors battled to push markets higher again Wednesday following another healthy run-up on Wall Street boosted by more positive earnings results that raised hopes for the reporting season.
However, while there is a more upbeat mood on trading floors for now, analysts warned that the current rally could soon turn as central banks press on with their interest rate hikes aimed at fighting multi-decade-high inflation.
Forex traders were also keeping tabs on the yen as it edges closer to 150 per dollar, with Japanese officials holding off a second intervention in as many months but saying they are ready to act when necessary.
All three main indexes in New York enjoyed back-to-back gains as investors were heartened by forecast-beating results from Goldman Sachs and Johnson & Johnson.
They came on the heels of better-than-expected reports from banking giants Citi, JP Morgan and Wells Fargo.
Traders were given an extra boost by news that Netflix gained more than two million subscribers in July-September, easing worries about the impact of rising borrowing costs on consumers.
"Earnings season offers investors the opportunity to focus more on the actual earnings power of corporate America, and less on the machinations of the backward-looking economic data stream," Art Hogan, a strategist at B. Riley, said.
"A better-than-feared earnings season may well be the catalyst the market needs to see a break in the steady grind lower."
Still, Asian markets were mixed in early trade, with profit-takers weighing on Hong Kong after a healthy three-day run-up, while there were also losses in Shanghai, Taipei, Manila and Jakarta.
Tokyo, Sydney, Seoul, Singapore and Wellington rose.
- 'Volatility up' -
SPI Asset Management's Stephen Innes warned there were still plenty of issues keeping a cap on equities including sticky inflation, weak sentiment, hawkish central banks, the Ukraine war, China's economic woes and "a non-stop drum beat of recessionary rhetoric from vocal market participants".
"The key to equity markets is (Federal Reserve) certainty, and that is the crucial turn on the road before the rates markets can settle back into a groove and Treasury volatility can decline," he added.
"But for that to happen, the US data needs to roll over. Given the much hotter-than-expected inflation data, the Fed may do the opposite of what the market wants -- turning volatility up again."
On currency markets, eyes were now on Tokyo as the yen hovers just above 149 per dollar, with finance minister Shunichi Suzuki saying "we'll respond appropriately against excessive moves".
The unit is much weaker than the 145.90 level it touched last month before authorities stepped in, and analysts said they would likely act before it passes 150.
"If dollar-yen rises past the symbolic 150 level, price action will naturally accelerate, so they probably want to halt it before then or buy time," said Yuji Saito of Credit Agricole CIB.
Crude rose on renewed supply worries, having slumped Tuesday on bets that US President Joe Biden will order the release of more barrels from emergency reserves in order to keep fuel prices subdued heading into the winter and mid-term elections.
- Key figures around 0230 GMT -
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.7 percent at 27,353.87 (break)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.8 percent at 16,781.79
Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.4 percent at 3,067.39
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.1344 from $1.1332 on Tuesday
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 149.17 yen from 149.21 yen
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $0.9859 from $0.9862
Euro/pound: UP at 86.92 pence from 87.01 pence
West Texas Intermediate: UP 1.5 percent at $84.02 per barrel
Brent North Sea crude: UP 0.9 percent at $90.82 per barrel
New York - Dow: UP 1.1 percent at 30,523.80 (close)
London - FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 6,936.74 (close)
J.Bondarev--CPN