Asia stocks rise ahead of US inflation data; yen stumbles
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.49% higher, while Tokyo's Nikkei gained 0.36%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index was up 0.61%.
The Japanese yen was at 151.71 per dollar in Asian hours, having touched a one-year low of 151.92 on Monday.
If the battered currency breaks below last year's trough of 151.94, it would mark a fresh 33-year low. [FRX/]
Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said on Tuesday that the government would take all possible steps necessary to respond to currency moves, repeating his usual mantra that excessive swings were undesirable.
The U.S.
inflation report, due later in the day, has investors' attention on Tuesday, especially after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and policymakers have said they are still not sure that interest rates are high enough to tame inflation.
Economists polled by Reuters expect headline U.S.
consumer price inflation slowed to 3.3% in October from 3.7% in September, with the so-called core inflation rate that strips out volatile components unchanged.
«This data holds significant sway over the Federal Reserve's future policy direction,» said Anderson Alves, a trader with ActivTrades.
«A miss, especially in the less volatile core inflation component, might lead traders to believe the Fed could refrain from further hikes. Conversely, a beat could prompt a noticeable repricing on the short-term U.S.
interest curve.»
China shares were higher, with the blue-chip CSI 300 Index gaining 0.40% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index up 0.57%, ahead of a summit between the top leaders from the world's two largest economies later this week.
Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields was up 2.2 basis points at 4.654%, easing a touch from Monday's one-week
