Asia stocks gain as Wall Street rises before Fed, dollar stands tall

By Shinichi Saoshiro

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian stocks gained early on Wednesday, with sentiment lifting as Wall Street rose before a likely hike in U.S. interest rates, while the dollar held to large gains made as Treasury yields picked up.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> rose 0.7 percent.

Australian shares <.AXJO> climbed 1.5 percent and Japan's Nikkei <.N225> gained 1.9 percent.

On Wall Street Tuesday, the Dow <.DJI> added 0.9 percent and the S&P 500 <.SPX> advanced 1.1 percent. Bank stocks, which will likely benefit from higher rates, were among the market leaders with a 2.4 percent advance on the S&P financial sector index <.SPSY>. [.N]

 

The Federal Reserve is expected to announce a hike in interest rates when its two-day policy setting meeting ends later in the day. It would be the first U.S. rate hike in nearly a decade, signalling the beginning of an end to an expansionary monetary policy that has supplied a tidal wave of liquidity to risk asset markets globally.

With a hike seen as a mostly done deal after more than a year of anticipation, investor focus is fixed on how the Fed might opt to pace its tightening cycle next year. The central bank has hinted that it intends to hike rates gradually.

"(Fed chair) Yellen should stress data-dependence in following up with further tightening next year and will surely not drop any heavy hints about the timing of the next move. No one can be confident how the dollar will emerge from all this but volatility seems assured," wrote Sean Callow, a senior strategist at Westpac.

The dollar index <.DXY> last stood at 98.183, having gained 0.6 percent on Tuesday.

The dollar was steady at 121.67 yen >, pulling further away from a six-week trough of 120.35 struck Monday. The euro traded near $1.0900 > after recoiling from a seven-week peak of $1.1060.

Supporting the greenback, Treasury yields rose overnight as gains on Wall Street reduced the appeal of safe-haven bonds and stable U.S. consumer prices data supported the case for a Fed rate hike. [US/]

In commodities, crude oil dipped after gaining for two successive days. U.S. crude was down 1.2 percent at $36.89 a barrel. Concerns of global oversupply had sent crude to a seven-year low of $34.53 earlier this week.

(Reporting by Shinichi Saoshiro; Editing by Eric Meijer)