Asian stock markets advance after new Wall St high

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets followed Wall Street higher on Wednesday after U.S. inflation ticked up and Japanese machinery orders fell.

Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul and Sydney rose. Tokyo was off less than 0.5%.

Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 index closed 0.3% higher in choppy trading. Tech and consumer stocks gained on optimism the vaccine rollout will allow business activity to return to normal. Johnson & Johnson declined after U.S. regulators suspended use of its single-dose vaccine to investigate possibly dangerous blood clots.

The U.S. government reported consumer prices increased by a stronger-than-expected 0.6% in March, the fastest rate since 2012. Higher inflation normally fuels fears interest rates might be raised to keep prices stable, but the Federal Reserve has said the economy will be allowed to “run hot” to ensure a recovery is in place.

Traders “took the well-telegraphed inflation ‘pick-up’ in stride,” said Stephen Innes of Axi in a report. Market also are “seemingly unfazed” by the J&J suspension.

The Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.2% to 3,401.72 and Hang Seng in Hong Kong advanced 1.2% to 28,850.00.

The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo shed 0.4% to 29,636.24 after government data showed February machinery orders fell by an unexpectedly wide margin of 8.5% from the previous month, adding to concern about the country's recovery.

The Kospi in Seoul was up 0.3% at 3,179.85 and Sydney's S&P-ASX 200 gained 0.5% to 7,013.40.

Indian markets were closed for a holiday. New Zealand and Jakarta advanced.

Singapore's benchmark declined after the government reported unexpectedly strong economic growth of 0.2% over a year ago in the three months ending in March. The central bank left monetary policy unchanged.

Investors have been...