By Jiaxing Li
HONG KONG, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Asian shares edged higher on Wednesday as artificial intelligence-related stocks found some respite after a selloff, while gains were tempered by elevated oil prices and caution ahead of US inflation data later in the global day.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.8% after hitting a ten-week low in the previous session. Nasdaq futures strengthened 0.3% while European futures were 0.4% higher.
AI supply chain firms recovered some
of the previous session's loss, with chipmaker Samsung Electronics up 2.4% and SK Hynix up 0.8% in South Korea. Taiwan's TSMC added 1.4% and AI investor SoftBank bounced 3.4%
"Investors continue to decisively favour tech" including the semiconductor and hardware sectors, with concerns about stretched valuations having eased, Bank of America said in a survey of Asian fund managers.
Sentiment remained cautious, however, with oil prices rising on concern over energy supplies after two vessels were struck in the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian officials told Reuters they were deploying new tactics to target ships.
US crude ticked up 0.6% to $94.70 a barrel. Brent crude rose to $106.27 per barrel to hover near a two-week high.
In another sign of risk aversion, longer-dated bonds rallied as investors sought safety. The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes was steady at 5.204% after touching its lowest in nearly two weeks, while that on 30-year notes held at 5.553% following a three-day decline.
On Wall Street overnight, U.S. bank stocks lost ground after mixed quarterly earnings results from Citigroup and peers, weighing on broader markets.
US stock futures, the S&P 500 e-minis, were up 0.2% at 7,873.5.
CPI TEST AWAITED
Market participants were awaiting US consumer price index data later on Wednesday, hoping to extract clues on the Federal Reserve's interest-rate outlook.
Economists estimated headline inflation accelerated to an annual 3.6% in September due to rebounding energy prices, with the core CPI rising 0.2% on a monthly basis.
New York Federal Reserve President John Williams said the Fed may need to raise its policy rate once more this year to slow inflation, but that he sees no need for hikes in 2027. Investors priced in a roughly 22% chance of an October interest rate hike ahead of the CPI data, the CME FedWatch Tool showed.
"With several FOMC members indicating that a pause is likely this month amidst a moderation in job creation, we doubt that inflation numbers would be sufficiently hot to change the odds of hiking materially," Eugene Leow，senior rates strategist at DBS said in a note.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against the currencies of some major trading partners, was down at 102.17. The euro was little changed at $1.1202.
Elsewhere in China, data released on Wednesday showed producer prices rose at their fastest pace in more than four years while consumer inflation edged up last month, as pricier oil and commodities lifted costs, even as weak domestic demand kept broader price pressures contained.
(Reporting by Jiaxing Li in Hong Kong; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
