Asian markets mixed as dealers struggle to pick up Wall St rally

March 27, 2019: Asian markets were mixed Wednesday, with a strong lead from Wall Street offset by lingering concerns about the global economy, while oil prices extended gains after Russia reassured over its intention to cut output.

Trading remains choppy across the region after a key US gauge raised a red flag warning of recession, adding to Federal Reserve worries about growth, uncertainty over Brexit and China's stuttering economy.

However, while the optimism that has characterized most of 2019 has been shaken in recent weeks, a weak round of US data was unable to prevent a rebound in New York Tuesday, with all three main indexes ending higher.

And OANDA senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley said the reaction to the so-called yield curve inversion -- which was last seen ahead of the financial crisis a decade ago -- had been "quickly consigned to history".

He added that "the volte-face in sentiment suggests to me that despite all the noise, markets are flip-flopping on short-term data as we await the conclusion of the only real game in town: the US-China trade talks".

With a lack of clarification on a number of key issues, markets were fluctuating.

Hong Kong and Shanghai were each 0.3 percent higher, Wellington jumped one percent, while Jakarta and Singapore were flat.

But Tokyo went into the break 0.6 percent lower, Sydney shed 0.2 percent and Seoul eased 0.1 percent.

(APP)