By Gina Lee

– Asia Pacific stocks were up on Tuesday morning, with investor sentiment climbing thanks to a rally in U.S. equities, falling oil prices, and more cease-fire talks between Russia and Ukraine that will start later in the day.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.59% by 10:31 PM ET (2:31 AM GMT), with the jobs/application ratio at 1.21 in February and the unemployment rate at 2.7%.

South Korea’s KOSPI was up 0.31%. In Australia, the ASX 200 rose 0.79% after retail sales rose 1.8% month-on-month in February and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will hand down its annual budget later in the day.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was up 0.32%.

China’s Shanghai Composite inched up 0.08% and the Shenzhen Component rose 0.84%.

U.S. shares wavered, but technology firms helped the S&P 500 to rally for a third day. Oil continued its fall, as the latest lockdowns in China to curb the rising number of COVID-19 impacts on fuel demand. U.S. Treasuries were mixed, with the two-year yield resuming an upward trend on bets that the Federal Reserve will aggressively hike interest rates.

The dollar gave up some gains, and the Japanese yen was near a six-year low against the U.S. currency due to the disparity in their central banks’ monetary policies. While the Fed maintains a hawkish stance, the Bank of Japan is set to continue with a more dovish tone and looks to continue an unprecedented bond-market intervention.

Fed policymakers, including Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker, Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin, and New York Fed President John Williams will speak on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday respectively.

On the data front, the U.S. will release its GDP on Wednesday and the latest jobs report two days later. China will also release its manufacturing and non-manufacturing purchasing managers indexes (PMIs) on Thursday, followed by the Caixin manufacturing PMI a day later.

Global shares have pulled up around 8% from the lows hit after the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, in comparison with a bond rout and inverting yield curves. Investors are weighing the invasion, sharing commodity prices, and the tighter Fed monetary policy.

“A lot of negative news is already reflected in market pricing and investor positioning, and we still see upside in U.S. equities for the rest of 2022,” UBS Global Wealth Management Americas chief investment officer Solita Marcelli said in a note.

Ukraine said that its “minimum” goal from talks with Russia that will begin on Tuesday in Turkey is an improvement in the immediate humanitarian situation.

In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin traded at around $47,000 after turning positive for 2022 and suggesting an improved appetite for speculative investments. Shares in GameStop Corp (NYSE:GME) rose for a 10th session Monday, their longest winning streak since April 2010.