GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian stocks recover on firmer futures, retreat in U.S. yields

* MSCI Asia-Pacific ex-Japan recover to be 0.10% higher
* Nikkei up 1%, E-minis bounce 1.1%
* Dollar gains as yields race ahead

By Paulina Duran and Matt Scuffham
SYDNEY, March 9 (Reuters) - Asian stocks recovered from
earlier losses on Tuesday, lifted by firmer U.S. equity futures
and central bank comments aimed at soothing fears about rising
bond yields and inflation.
A pullback in U.S. bond yields also buoyed equity markets.
Japan's Nikkei .N225 rallied 1.02% on Tuesday afternoon,
while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS was 0.10% higher.
Chinese blue chips .CSI300 added 0.03%, after earlier
hitting their lowest level this year.
People's Bank of China Vice Governor Chen Yulu told Yicai
Global that China's money supply would grow only to match GDP
growth and the country's central bank did not see a need for
major stimulus support in the next five years. [https:// NASDAQ futures bounced 1.1% NQc1 and S&P 500 futures
ESc1 0.73%. European futures were slightly lower, however,
with EUROSTOXX 50 futures STXEc1 down 0.13% and FTSE futures
FFIc1 0.25% lower.
"I suspect that is what's leading the better tone in Asia,"
Stephen Miller, market strategist for GSFM Funds Management,
referring to U.S. futures and the central banker's remarks.
"From time to time soothing comments coming from officials -
whether PBOC officials, whether Fed Reserve, ECB or the Reserve
Bank of Australia officials - might calm markets but I think all
of those things would prove ephemeral if U.S. bond yields
continue to march higher, and I think there's a significant risk
of that."
Miller added that an easing in U.S. 10-year Treasury bond
yields US10YT=RR also helped sentiment. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Monday that
President Joe Biden's coronavirus aid package would provide
enough resources to fuel a "very strong" U.S. economic recovery,
and noted "there are tools" to deal with inflation. Despite the positive cues, investors remain conflicted over
whether the stimulus will help global growth rebound faster from
the COVID-19 downturn or cause the world's biggest economy to
overheat and lead to runaway inflation.
"The chance of our seeing more inflation in the economy is
meaningfully increased by the monetary policy actions and the
fiscal policy actions that we're seeing around the world,"
Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Officer David Solomon told a
conference in Sydney via webcast.
"There is certainly a reasonable outcome where inflation
accelerates more quickly than people are expecting, and that
will obviously have an impact on markets and volatility."
The technology sector and other richly valued companies have
been highly susceptible to the rising rates.
Australian shares tracked overnight gains on Wall Street
with the main S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO climbing as much as
1.04% on Tuesday. However, Australian tech stocks slid for the
sixth straight session in line with their U.S. peers.
The index gave back those gains to be only 0.48% higher in
afternoon trading following the tech declines. Hong Kong's Hang
Seng .HSI advanced 1.4%, while South Korea's KOSPI .KS11
fell 0.74%.
U.S. economic data pointed to a continued recovery, as the
Commerce Department said wholesale inventories increased solidly
in January despite a surge in sales, suggesting inventory
investment could again contribute to growth in the first
quarter. On Wall Street, the Dow advanced overnight while the Nasdaq
shed over 2%, marking a more than 10% fall since its Feb. 12
closing high and confirming a correction in the index's value.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 0.97%, the S&P
500 .SPX lost 0.54%, and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped
2.41%.
"If rates are grinding higher because people are getting
optimistic about what economic growth looks like, that is still
supportive for equity prices," said Tom Hainlin, global
investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management's Ascent
Private Wealth Group in Minneapolis.
U.S. Treasury yields have been advancing as investors price
in higher inflation and more upbeat prospects for the U.S.
economy as it emerges from the coronavirus pandemic.
On foreign exchange markets, the dollar index =USD held
near a 3-1/2-month high against its rivals as expectations of a
faster economic normalisation from the pandemic in the United
States put the currency at an advantage. The euro EUR=D3 was
up 0.1% at $1.185.
Oil prices rose on Tuesday, helped by a likely drawdown in
crude oil inventories in the United States, the world's biggest
fuel consumer.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 were up 56 cents, or 0.82%, at
$68.80 per barrel. U.S. crude futures CLc1 were 50 cents, or
0.75% higher at $65.55.
Spot gold XAU= added 0.4% to $1,687.66 an ounce.

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