European stocks, Asian shares record gains

Gulf Today Report 

European stocks climbed on Tuesday as investors await US Federal Reserve’s views on inflation. 

The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.5%, inching closer to a record peak set last year. 

Investors are keeping an eye on the outcome of the Fed’s policy meeting amid worries that an increase in inflation could make the central bank tighten monetary policy sooner than expected.

"The ideal situation for the markets would be the central bank saying, "Yes, we're concerned about inflation and we're going to step in and prevent inflation going too high," said Connor Campbell, a financial analyst at spreadbetters SpreadEx.

"Though the issue is going to be that the Fed is completely comfortable with inflation hitting 2% or higher." 

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Asian stocks

Asian shares gained on Tuesday following an all-time high rally on Wall Street. 

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.5% to finish at 29,921.09. South Korea's Kospi added 0.7% to 3,068.21. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 jumped 0.8% to 6,827.10. Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.3% to 28,929.99, while the Shanghai Composite recouped earlier losses and rose 0.5% to 3,436.19. 

The slow pace of coronavirus vaccine rollout in Asia has put investors in cautionary mode. 

The news of AstraZeneca vaccine leading to blood clots after usage has led to its suspension in so many countries including Japan. 

Japan has started vaccinations of medical professionals with the product from Pfizer but was set to use those from Moderna as well as AstraZeneca. The AstraZeneca vaccines were due to be produced in Japan, unlike the other two brands.