Asian equities trade mildly positive earnings releases on the radar, supporting the region after choppy price action and mostly negative lead from Wall Street. The industrial sector in the region could outperform as metals well bid across precious and industrial.
On the geopolitical front, investors will be digesting some positive signals from Russia/Ukraine tensions that could support risk assets as recent reports noted that France sees Russian President Putin moving towards de-escalating Ukraine tension. The news follows Putin’s bilateral meeting with France President Emmanuel Macron. For the session ahead, traders will be trading through a quiet data calendar highlighted by the U.S. Consumer Price inflation data on Thursday that will gauge how hawkish the market’s pricing for March Fed’s decision will be. Worth noting that participants have priced almost the whole rate hike scenario from the Fed even before any real formal aggressive path rhetoric from the FOMC voters. So any surprise to the downside on the CPI reading in the short-term could support risk assets and push participants to draw some risk premium from global equities and credit markets. This anticipation could also play a key role in the price action before the decision.
