Asia stocks join Wall St rally, brace for BOJ hike

Asian share markets rebounded on Friday as a turnaround in tech lifted Wall Street, leaving investors counting down to a likely hike in interest rates from the Bank of Japan that could cause waves for currencies and bonds. Sentiment also got a boost from a shock slowdown in U.S. consumer price inflation to 2.7%, though analysts cautioned the data were clearly distorted lower by the government shutdown and could not be taken at face value. Pricing for the Federal Reserve moved only marginally with a rate cut in January implied at just 27%, while March nudged up to 58% from 54% before the data. Markets imply around a 90% chance the BOJ will raise its rate a quarter point to 0.75% later Friday, with much resting on the outlook for further tightening ahead.