Asian stocks gain on China measures, US yield surge hits currencies

Asian stocks gain on China measures, US yield surge hits currencies

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.7%, reversing losses from earlier in the session and led by gains in China and Hong Kong.

Investor reaction to China's stimulus measures announced on Monday was short-lived, outweighed by Fed Governor Christopher Waller's call for a half percentage point hike in interest rates until inflation is decisively curbed.

Waller's remarks came ahead of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's meeting with the President Joe Biden later in the day to discuss the state of the economy.

U.S. Treasury yields rose sharply to a one-week high as trading resumed after a U.S. holiday. With the greenback firm, Asian currencies lost ground. The baht declined as much as 0.5% and was the top underperformer in the region.

Poon Panichpibool, a markets strategist with Krung Thai Bank, said that the movement in the baht was due to factors like a firm dollar and some profit-taking from players who shorted the dollar-Thai baht pair earlier.

The rupiah, Singapore's dollar and Philippine peso dropped 0.2% each, while Malaysia's ringgit was down 0.3%.

In equity markets, Jakarta shares led with a 1% gain, followed by stocks in Singapore and South Korea , up 0.6% each. In contrast, Philippine shares dropped 0.7%.

Amid a relatively light