Stocks, oil rise in Asia after US records, the dollar weakens

(Reuters) – Asian stock markets rose on Tuesday after a record day on Wall Street, while Bitcoin paused to breathe after a nightly endorsement by Tesla Inc raised the cryptocurrency by 20%.

Oil also hit 13-month highs, helped by growing optimism about the return of fuel demand ，

However, as a sign that positive sentiment may be exhausted in European trade, eurostoxx futures fell 0.05%, London FTSE futures fell 0.12% and E-mini futures for the S&P 500 were flat.

Back in Asia, MSCI’s broader Asia-Pacific stock index outside of Japan rose 0.37% to 722.95 after rising to 730.16 at the end of last month.

Gains were led by Chinese blue chips, which rose 1.67%, while Hong Kong’s benchmark rose 0.51% and Korea’s 0.27%, and the giants of chips benefited from the excitement of bitcoins.

Chief economist Iris Pang for Greater China at ING said the strong performance of Chinese markets was the result of investor buying before the Chinese New Year break, anticipating that prices would be higher after the holidays.

Chinese stock exchanges are closed for a week starting Thursday.

The Japanese Nikkei was up 0.27%.

Tuesday’s gains in Asia coincided with so-called reflation trades around the world, in which global markets supplied stocks, oil and gold, while U.S. Treasury yields maintained 11-month highs.

“Reflection on U.S. fiscal stimulus and positive news about vaccines remains the main topic for markets,” National Australia Bank strategists wrote.

Expectations that inflation would rise as governments and central banks continue with massive spending and easy money policies have grown until officials are confident that their economies will recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

Wall Street hit all-time highs on Monday as the Nasdaq Composite added nearly 1% and the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average gained about 0.75%.

In more volatile cryptocurrency markets, Bitcoin topped $ 47,000 for the first time, up 20%, before fluctuating slightly below that level.

Tesla Inc. said overnight that it had invested about $ 1.5 billion in virtual currency and expects to accept it as payment for its cars in the future.

Justin d’Anethan, sales director for digital asset company Diginex, said most of the sales pressure in Asia had been absorbed.

“This morning, after liquidating more than $ 1.2 billion in leveraged shorts, regular crypto sellers will probably think twice before tossing their coins,” Anethan said.

Oil prices continued to rise on Tuesday to 13-month highs.

Brent rose 45 cents, or 0.74%, West Texas U.S. crude oil stood at $ 58.39 a barrel, an increase of 43 cents, also 0.74%.

“There’s a feeling that the shortage of oil supplies is disappearing faster than anyone thought possible,” said Phil Flynn, a senior analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago. “There seems to be a paradigm shift in the market.”

Spot gold rose 0.37% to $ 1,837 an ounce, the highest for the week, as expectations of a large US economic stimulus package strengthened its appeal as a hedge for inflation. .

These expectations reached the dollar index, which fell further on Tuesday after falling late last week on a weaker-than-expected job report. It fell 0.25% for the last time, to 90.728.