Asian Stock Markets
Asia stocks gain as crude oil extends rally on Iran woes.
Asian stocks rose on Thursday, with energy shares leading the way as crude oil prices bolted higher after U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of a nuclear deal with Iran.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS advanced 0.6 percent, while Japan's Nikkei .N225 climbed 0.3 percent. South Korea's KOSPI .KS11 rose 0.5 percent and Shanghai SSEC was 0.2 percent higher.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 rose 0.8 percent to $77.82 a barrel, the highest since November 2014 and building on gains of about 3 percent on Wednesday. U.S. light crude futures CLc1 were up 0.6 percent at $71.69.[O/R]
Energy shares soared as crude oil prices reached 3-1/2-year highs, with investors betting the U.S. withdrawal from a nuclear agreement with Iran would increase tensions in the Middle East and curtail oil supply.
Overnight, the Dow .DJI gained 0.75 percent and the S&P 500 .SPX climbed nearly 1 percent, with the S&P energy index .SPNY rallying 2 percent.[.N]
Rising oil prices in turn pushed up U.S. Treasury yields by fanning inflation concerns. The 10-year Treasury note yield rose to a two-week high above the 3 percent threshold before pulling back to 2.982 percent US10YT=RR.
Shored up by higher yields, the dollar climbed to a 4-1/2-month high of 93.416 against a basket of six major currencies overnight .DXY. The dollar index was last at 92.956.
The New Zealand dollar retreated to a five-month low of $0.6915 NZD=D4 after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) wrongfooted hawks. It kept interest rates steady as expected, but said its next move might be a cut or a hike.
The euro crawled back to $1.1871 EUR= after slipping overnight to $1.1823, its lowest since late December. The dollar was steady at 109.690 yen JPY= after brushing an eight-day peak of 109.930.
Investors in emerging markets, already facing financial uncertainty in countries such as Argentina and Turkey, received another jolt after a stunning election upset in Malaysia.
Moody’s ratings agency said the country was now in uncharted territory after an alliance of opposition parties led by former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad shocked the ruling coalition.
Over the past day the Malaysian ringgit slid nearly 3 percent in the one-month non-deliverable forward market and the cost to insure against the country’s debt default has risen.
Special public holidays were declared for Thursday and Friday following the elections. But, highlighting investor worries, the U.S.-traded iShares MSCI Malaysia ETF (EWM) plunged 6 percent overnight to a one-year low.
Asian stocks rose on Thursday, with energy shares leading the way as crude oil prices bolted higher after U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of a nuclear deal with Iran.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS advanced 0.6 percent, while Japan's Nikkei .N225 climbed 0.3 percent. South Korea's KOSPI .KS11 rose 0.5 percent and Shanghai SSEC was 0.2 percent higher.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 rose 0.8 percent to $77.82 a barrel, the highest since November 2014 and building on gains of about 3 percent on Wednesday. U.S. light crude futures CLc1 were up 0.6 percent at $71.69.[O/R]
Energy shares soared as crude oil prices reached 3-1/2-year highs, with investors betting the U.S. withdrawal from a nuclear agreement with Iran would increase tensions in the Middle East and curtail oil supply.
Overnight, the Dow .DJI gained 0.75 percent and the S&P 500 .SPX climbed nearly 1 percent, with the S&P energy index .SPNY rallying 2 percent.[.N]
Rising oil prices in turn pushed up U.S. Treasury yields by fanning inflation concerns. The 10-year Treasury note yield rose to a two-week high above the 3 percent threshold before pulling back to 2.982 percent US10YT=RR.
Shored up by higher yields, the dollar climbed to a 4-1/2-month high of 93.416 against a basket of six major currencies overnight .DXY. The dollar index was last at 92.956.
The New Zealand dollar retreated to a five-month low of $0.6915 NZD=D4 after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) wrongfooted hawks. It kept interest rates steady as expected, but said its next move might be a cut or a hike.
The euro crawled back to $1.1871 EUR= after slipping overnight to $1.1823, its lowest since late December. The dollar was steady at 109.690 yen JPY= after brushing an eight-day peak of 109.930.
Investors in emerging markets, already facing financial uncertainty in countries such as Argentina and Turkey, received another jolt after a stunning election upset in Malaysia.
Moody’s ratings agency said the country was now in uncharted territory after an alliance of opposition parties led by former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad shocked the ruling coalition.
Over the past day the Malaysian ringgit slid nearly 3 percent in the one-month non-deliverable forward market and the cost to insure against the country’s debt default has risen.
Special public holidays were declared for Thursday and Friday following the elections. But, highlighting investor worries, the U.S.-traded iShares MSCI Malaysia ETF (EWM) plunged 6 percent overnight to a one-year low.
No comments:
Post a Comment