There are only two major indexes across Asia-Pacific that are in positive territory so far in 2022, and both of them are in Southeast Asia.

As of the Wednesday market close, Singapore’s Straits Times index is in first place regionally, having risen 3.25% year-to-date.

In a note published Thursday, Morgan Stanley equity analysts Wilson Ng and Derek Chang said Singapore stocks are a “safe haven amid choppy global markets.”

“Global markets are grappling with growth moderation as fiscal stimulus rolls off, rising interest rates as central banks tighten monetary policy, and higher inflation driven by supply shocks created by events in Ukraine and China,” said Ng and Chang.

“Despite an uncertain global outlook, Singapore’s macro conditions appear relatively robust. GDP growth is set to decelerate, but to still above-trend levels thanks to reopening progress this year,” they said.

Indonesia’s Jakarta Composite is in second place regionally, with 3.22% year-to-date gains.

Both indexes have outperformed peers across the region, which have seen losses so far for the year. China’s markets have been among those hit the hardest.

The Shenzhen Component in mainland China is in last place among the region’s major markets, having plunged more than 24% since the start of the year. The Shanghai Composite has also seen heavy losses, sliding about 15% in the same period.

A combination of factors has contributed to weakness in Chinese stocks, from an uncertain regulatory outlook for industries like tech to worries about supply chain disruptions, as the mainland has for weeks been battling its most severe Covid wave since early 2020.

Elsewhere in North Asia, South Korea’s Kospi and the Taiex in Taiwan — home to many major exporting firms that were beneficiaries during the earlier phase of the pandemic — have both dropped more than 10% each so far this year.

“Many reasons justify the relative outperformance of ASEAN markets YTD,” said Chetan Seth, Asia-Pacific equity strategist at Nomura, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. He cited factors such as the region benefitting from economic reopening and markets in Indonesia and Malaysia being “positively leveraged to higher commodity prices.”

“Amid rising concerns around geo-political risks and slowdown in global growth, ASEAN equities generally do relatively better as they have lower trade-linkages to the rest of the world – especially compared to North Asia,” Chetan said.

Bank of America’s Winnie Wu said the outperformance of banks was another factor behind ASEAN’s stronger performance.

“With the rising interest rates and growth-value rotation, banks outperformed across the region,” said Wu, chief China strategist and head of greater China financial institutions research at the firm. “Singapore, Indonesia and Australia markets have relatively high index weighting of financials, and outperformed, whereas financials have relatively low weighting in Japan, Korea, and China indices.”

SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific looked set for a lower start on Wednesday as investors await the release of inflation data from China and the U.S.

The Nikkei futures contract in Chicago was at 26,110 while its counterpart in Osaka was at 26,060 — lower than the Nikkei 225’s last close at 26,167.10.

Australian stocks also appeared poised to dip, with the SPI futures contract at 7,014, against the S&P/ASX 200’s last close at 7,051.20.

China is set to release its inflation data on Wednesday, with the consumer price index and producer price index for April both set to be out at 9:30 a.m. HK/SIN. The data releases come as the mainland continues to battle its worst Covid outbreak since the initial phase of the pandemic in early 2020.

The U.S. April consumer price index is also set to be released Wednesday stateside, and is expected to come in slightly below March’s 8.5% which could signal that inflation has reached a peak.

“The US CPI for April is today’s, indeed the week’s, highlight,” Joseph Capurso, head of international economics at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, wrote in a note.

“The consensus of US economists expect headline inflation to decelerate significantly from 1.2%/mth in March to only 0.2%/mth in April because retail petrol prices have stabilised. But core inflation is expected to step up slightly from 0.3%/mth in March to 0.4%/mth in April,” Capurso said.

Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 climbed about 0.25% to 4,001.05 while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.98% to 11,737.67. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lagged, falling 84.96 points — or 0.26% — to 32,160.74.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 103.92 — above levels below 103.8 seen earlier in the week.

The Japanese yen traded at 130.34 per dollar, stronger as compared with levels above 130.5 seen against the greenback earlier this week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.6937 as it struggles for a bounce after declining from above $0.70 earlier in the week.

SINGAPORE — Shares in Chinese tech firms mostly rose in mixed Asia-Pacific trading on Monday, with oil prices falling more than 3%.

The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong advanced 1.05%.

Shares of Meituan soared 10.89% while Tencent climbed 2.86%, as of the final hour of trading in Hong Kong on Monday.

Meituan on Friday posted better-than-expected revenue for the last three months of 2021. The company’s revenue for the fourth quarter came in at 49.52 billion yuan ($7.78 billion), above mean analyst expectations for a 49.2 billion yuan print, according to data from Refinitiv Eikon.

The Hang Seng Tech index remained in positive territory, rising 2.13%. Some Chinese tech stocks, however, slipped: Baidu edged 0.63% lower while JD.com dropped 3.06%.

“Even if you look now, where we see very significant and sharp falls so that valuations now are at much more reasonable levels, I think it’s still quite difficult for investors … to really build the courage to go back in at these levels,” Mark Konyn, group chief investment officer at AIA, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Monday.

The broader Asia-Pacific markets struggled for direction on Monday.

Mainland China’s Shanghai composite gained 0.07% to close at 3,214.50 while the Shenzhen component shed 1.017% to 11,949.94.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 closed fractionally higher at 7,412.40. Singapore’s Straits Times index also climbed 0.38% in afternoon trade.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific outside Japan traded 0.11% lower.

Oil prices declined in the afternoon of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures down 3.52% to $116.40 per barrel. U.S. crude futures slipped 3.97% to $109.38 per barrel.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 99.2 following a recent climb from below 98.7.

The Japanese yen traded at 123.61 per dollar, weaker than levels below 120 seen against the greenback last week. The Australian dollar was at $0.7512, having risen from below $0.74 last week.

Correction: This article was updated to accurately reflect the moves of the Japanese yen during Asia trading hours on Monday.