Asian Stock Market: Fed, Biden favor bulls amid fears from China, off in Japan

• Asian equities stay mildly bid amid mixed sentiment.
• Fed’s Powell rejects to talk tapering, US President Biden urges Congress to back his stimulus.
• Biden’s tough stand on China, Russia joins likely challenges from Beijing to the West.
• Covid crisis in Japan, India, uneven vaccinations also caps risk-on mood.

Asian shares print small gains as traders weigh hopes of more stimulus against geopolitical tension ahead of Thursday’s European session. Also challenging the mood could be a lack of major data/event Japan’s off due to Showa Day.

Amid these plays, MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rises 0.50% intraday, copying the moves of the S&P 500 further, by the press time.

Read: S&P 500 Futures rise to fresh record top near 4,200 as Biden urges US Congress for stimulus

Australia’s ASX 200 gains 0.20% amid mixed outcomes of the Aussie Import-Export Price Index for Q1 2021. On the same line, New Zealand’s NZX 50 prints 0.57% upside on a day as Exports and Imports grew in March.

Chinese stocks trade mixed after US President Joe Biden cited odds of competition from Beijing while also warning the dragon nation, as well as Russia. It should be noted that the Democratic Party member urged policymakers to back his $4.0 trillion stimulus during his first ‘Joint Congress’ speech.

Markets in South Korea and Indonesia also follow the suit while India keeps its position as the region’s biggest winner as global policymakers shower aid packages for New Delhi.

It’s worth mentioning that the coronavirus (COVID-19) hasn’t faded and the vaccinations are yet to jump in many countries, which in turn challenge the bulls.

Looking forward, preliminary readings of US Q1 GDP will be the key as upbeat growth figures may push the Fed to drop its bearish bias amid multi-year high inflation expectations.

Read: Read: US Q1 GDP Preview: Eyes on inflation and FOMC as economic recovery gathers steam