By Kenan Machado

Stock markets rose Wednesday in Asia, following modest rebounds in Europe and the U.S. that partially reversed Monday's global declines.

Despite the strong start, trading volume across asset classes is likely to be muted in Asia through the day, ahead of the looming Federal Reserve interest-rate hike and updated economic projections.

Japanese markets were closed to mark the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere.

The recovery in global markets may be more of a technical breather than an absence of concerns, analysts at Mizuho Bank said in a note.

Hong Kong stocks led the way in the opening minutes with a 1% gain, while Chinese and Taiwanese equities rose roughly 0.5%.

New Zealand's NZX 50 jumped 0.9%, helped by a 15% surge to fresh record highs for milk processing giant Synlait Milk after it reported record fiscal first-half earnings and gave upbeat guidance. Partner a2 Milk Company rose 2%.

Down Under, Australian energy stocks rose 1.2%, helped by crude's 2% jump Tuesday despite concerns over ongoing tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran. But Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was only 0.1% higher, due to a more than 1% decline in real estate stocks as global bond yields pushed higher Tuesday.

Oil stocks were strong in Asia after crude prices jumped 2% on Tuesday despite concerns over ongoing tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Oil futures also rose 0.4% in Asia after the American Petroleum Institute said domestic stockpiles fell modestly last week. It's predicted that data to be released Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration will show an increase.

Key in the Fed release will be the number of interest-rate hikes policymakers predict for 2018.

In December, it scheduled three rate increases for this year.

But some analysts have raised the prospect of four increases, to occur as U.S. economic growth picks up. And there's potential, they say, that inflation may do the same.

"I think we are still going through a corrective phase where the market is pricing for a higher-rate environment," said Paul Kitney, chief equity strategist for Asia Pacific at Daiwa Capital Markets.

Write to Kenan Machado at kenan.machado@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 20, 2018 22:34 ET (02:34 GMT)

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