SINGAPORE, March 6 Reuters Asian stocks rose on Wednesday as traders awaited policy cues from Beijing during its weeklong annual session of parliament after a prior lack of stimulus measures disappointed some investors, while gold and bitcoin eased after touching record peaks.

Traders were also hesitant to place major bets ahead of congressional testimony from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell starting later on Wednesday that will be parsed to gauge if and when the U.S. central bank is ready to start cutting interest rates.

Chinese stocks were mixed a day after Beijing set a widely expected 5 growth target for 2024 at a key parliament meeting that lacked major stimulus measures.

The bluechip CSI 300 Index was 0.08 lower while Hong Kong39;s benchmark Hang Seng spiked 2 higher, rebounding from Tuesday39;s 2.5 dive.

The 2024 China economic targets still show officials are unwilling to quickly reflate the economy given concerns about excessive debt and the weakness of the yuan, said Mansoor Mohiuddin, chief economist at the Bank of Singapore.

An economyfocused press conference at 0700 GMT on Wednesday, where representatives from People39;s Bank of China and other regulators may respond to media inquiries, will be scrutinised by investors looking for more policy details.

The waitandsee approach made for a lacklustre trading session in Asia, with MSCI39;s broadest index of AsiaPacific shares outside Japan initially slipping before reversing course to trade 0.46…