- Israel warns south Lebanon residents to 'not return'
- Sinner tames Machac to reach Shanghai Masters final
- Buried Nazi past haunts Athens on liberation anniversary
- Harris to release medical report confirming fitness for presidency: campaign
- Nobel prize a timely reminder, Hiroshima locals say
- Hezbollah fires at Israel as wars rage on Yom Kippur
- Analysts warn more detail needed on new China economic measures
- China tees up fresh spending to boost ailing economy
- China says will issue special bonds to boost ailing economy
- China offers $325 bn in fiscal stimulus for ailing economy
- Dodgers drop Padres 2-0 to advance in MLB playoffs
- Alexei Navalny wrote he knew he would die in prison in new memoir
- Last-minute legal ruling allows betting on US election
- Despite hurricanes, Floridians refuse to leave 'paradise'
- Israel observes Yom Kippur amid firestorm over Lebanon strikes
- Trump demonizes migrants in dark, misleading speech
- X says 'alert' to manipulation efforts after pro-Russia bots report
- US, European markets rise before Boeing unveils sweeping job cuts
- Small Quebec company dominates one part of NHL hockey: jerseys
- Comoros shock Tunisia, Salah, Mbeumo strike in AFCON qualifiers
- Boeing to cut 10% of workforce as it sees big Q3 loss
- Germany win in Nations League as 10-man Dutch rescue point
- Undav brace sends Germany to victory against Bosnia
- Israel says fired at 'threat' near UN position in Lebanon
- Want to film in Paris? No sexism allowed
- Ecuador's last mountain iceman dies at 80
- Milton leaves at least 16 dead, millions without power in Florida
- Senegal set to announce breakaway development agenda: PM
- UN says 2 peacekeepers wounded in south Lebanon explosions
- Injury-hit Australia thrash 'embarrassing' Pakistan at Women's T20 World Cup
- Internal TikTok documents show prioritization of traffic over well-being
- Israel says fired at 'immediate threat' near UN position in Lebanon
- New US coach Pochettino hails Pulisic but worries over workload
- Brazil orders closure of 2,000 betting sites
- UK govt urged to raise pro-democracy tycoon's case with China
- Sculptor Lalanne's animal creations sell for $59 mn
- From Tesla to Trump: Behind Musk's giant leap into politics
- US, European markets rise as investors weigh rates, earnings
- In Colombia, children trade plastic waste for school supplies
- Supercharged hurricanes trigger 'perfect storm' for disinformation
- JPMorgan Chase profits top estimates, bank sees 'resilient' US economy
- Djokovic proves staying power as he progresses to Shanghai semi-finals
- Sheffield Utd boss Wilder 'numb' after Baldock death
- Little progress at key meet ahead of COP29 climate summit
- Fans immerse themselves in Marina Abramovic's first China exhibition
- Israel says conducting review after UN peacekeepers wounded in Lebanon
- 'Party atmosphere': Skygazers treated to another aurora show
- Djokovic 'overwhelmed' after 'greatest rival' Nadal's retirement
- Zelensky in Berlin says hopes war with Russia will end next year
- Kyrgyzstan opens rare probe into glacier destruction
Asian markets mixed as traders return, eyes on US data
Asian markets were mixed Tuesday after another record high on Wall Street, with attention on key US inflation data due later in the day, while bitcoin broke $50,000 for the first time in more than two years.
Traders are hoping the consumer price index reading shows a continued downward trend, which would give the Federal Reserve room to lower interest rates.
However, there is resignation on trading floors that a March cut is out of the question after decision-makers warned they wanted to see more positive indicators, with May now tipped as seeing the first shift downward.
The CPI report is forecast to come in below three percent on-year for the first time since March 2021, according to Bloomberg News.
Expectations inflation will come down to the Fed's two-percent target this year, allowing the bank to ease monetary policy, have been a key driver of a market rally that has pushed the Dow and S&P 500 to multiple records this year.
However, some observers pointed out that there could be an upward surprise as many businesses had lifted prices to boost their margins.
SPI Asset Management's Stephen Innes added: "The dreaded top side beat would throw ice water on the easing inflation story, send May cut probability tumbling south of 50 percent and upend a stock market rally looking for more boost juice from a dovish Fed.
"The US isn't out of the woods yet on the inflation front, even if markets are keen to pretend otherwise."
As most of the region returned to work after a long weekend in several countries, Tokyo led advances thanks to a surge in SoftBank, which was boosted by another blockbuster day for its US-listed unit Arm.
Arm has almost doubled in value in the past week -- and trebled since its September listing -- owing to healthy demand for chips fuelled by an expected boom in artificial intelligence.
There were also gains in Seoul, Mumbai, Bangkok and Manila, but Sydney, Singapore, Jakarta and Wellington fell.
Hong Kong, Shanghai and Taipei remained closed for the Lunar New Year break.
The gains in Asia came after the Dow chalked up a new record high, though the S&P 500 edged down after hitting an all-time peak Friday. The Nasdaq was also slightly off.
Bitcoin topped $50,000 for the first time since late 2021 as investors grow optimistic that US approval of broader trading in the unit will ramp up demand.
The cryptocurrency has enjoyed a strong run in recent months, fuelled by expectations US lawmakers would allow the creation of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that track the price and let the public invest in crypto without directly purchasing it.
After initially dropping in reaction to last month's green light by Washington, bitcoin has rallied about 25 percent since January 22.
That advance saw it hit as much as $50,328, according to Bloomberg data, its highest level since late 2021. In afternoon Asian trade it was sitting at $50,050.
And observers were optimistic about the outlook.
"Enthusiast buyers bring in more enthusiast buyers pushing prices further up," Fadi Aboualfa, of Copper Technologies, said.
"The cryptocurrency has momentum on the back of several green weeks and has a large chance of going up further when markets see weekly movements upwards of 10 percent (as we saw last week)."
- Key figures around 0600 GMT -
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 2.9 percent at 37,963.97 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: Closed for holiday
Shanghai - Composite: Closed for holiday
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0767 from $1.0776 on Monday
Dollar/yen: UP at 149.52 yen from 149.33 yen
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2617 from $1.2630
Euro/pound: UP at 85.35 pence from 85.29 pence
West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.2 percent at $77.07 per barrel
Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.1 percent at $82.09 per barrel
New York - Dow: UP 0.3 percent at 38,797.38 (close)
London - FTSE 100: FLAT at 7,573.69 (close)
-- Bloomberg News contributed to this story --
L.Mason--AMWN