GLOBAL MARKETS - Shares Jump on Tech Boost; Fragile Yen on Intervention Watch

GLOBAL MARKET - NEW YORK/LONDON. World stocks rose on Wednesday led by gains in the tech sector, notably U.S. megacaps, and the yen was mired near 34-year lows, keeping traders wary of intervention from Japan.

An after-hours surge in shares of electric vehicle maker Tesla, following its promise of new models, and upbeat earnings from some U.S. companies lifted sentiment, spurring a rally in tech stocks in Asia, where the sector rose 3.6% and Europe, where it gained 2.5%.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe rose 1.22 points, or 0.16%, to 759.37 by 10:43 a.m. ET (1443 GMT).

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 49.21 points, or 0.13%, to 38,454.48, the S&P 500 gained 5.54 points, or 0.11%, to 5,076.09 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 79.54 points, or 0.51%, to 15,776.18.

Europe's broad STOXX 600 reversed early gains and was down 0.28% following soft earnings from drugmaker Roche and luxury goods maker Kering.

"This week is getting back to market fundamentals and earnings. At least temporarily, we are sidestepping geopolitics which have been impacting markets in the last two weeks," said Samy Chaar, chief economist at Lombard Odier.

Safe haven gold edged up 0.21% was still 4% lower than its Friday high.

Still to come in an earnings-packed week are results from tech giants Meta Platforms, Alphabet and Microsoft.

DATA DIVERGENCE

Purchasing Managers Index surveys on Tuesday showed overall business activity in the euro zone and in Britain expanded at their fastest pace in nearly a year, while business activity cooled in the U.S.

That divergence helped the euro nudge above $1.07 in Asia trade, its highest in more than a week.

"For once, US-eurozone divergence in data has come to the benefit of euro/dollar," said Francesco Pesole, currency strategist at ING, in a note.

"(Though) hard data - inflation and employment above all - has been the real drag on the pair so far, so caution is warranted when it comes to rallies prompted by activity surveys like PMIs."

U.S. gross domestic product and March personal consumption expenditure data due later this week will be crucial for the dollar and for investors' attempts to gauge the path of U.S. rates.

Traders expect the first Federal Reserve rate cut in September, with expectations of 42 basis points of cuts this year. They had previously priced in 150 bps of easing for the whole year.

"One thing is fore sure: the Fed is not raising rates. I believe they want to tighten financial conditions by communicating a further distance is required for cuts, but they can do those cuts at whatever speed is necessary," said Jamie Cox, Managing Partner for Harris Financial Group in Richmond, Virginia.

INTERVENTION ZONE

The drastic shift in rate expectations has elevated Treasury yields and lifted the dollar in the past few weeks, with pressure felt particularly in Asia.

In the latest illustration, Indonesia's central bank delivered a surprise rate hike on Wednesday, stepping up efforts to support the rupiah currency.

The Japanese yen weakened 0.15% against the greenback at 155.07 per dollar and touched its lowest since 1990 ahead of the Bank of Japan's two-day policy meeting that concludes on Friday.

A senior official of Japan's ruling party told Reuters they were not yet in active discussion on what yen levels would be deemed worthy of market intervention.

The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes rose 6 basis points to 4.658%, from 4.598% late on Tuesday. The 2-year note yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, rose 3.6 basis points to 4.9414%, from 4.905%.

In commodities, U.S. crude futures lost 0.58% to $82.88 a barrel and Brent fell to $88.08 per barrel, down 0.38% on the day.

Editor: Yudho Winarto