Asian stocks traded slightly on Friday ahead of a series of Chinese economic data, while global equities as a whole flew to a record high, fueled by strong U.S. economic data that could herald a solid recovery.
MSCI’s broader Asia-Pacific stock index outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) changed little, while Japan’s Nikkei (.N225) rose 0.2%.
China will release a series of economic data later in the day, including first-quarter GDP.
The broader value of MSCI global stocks (.MIWD00000PUS) remained flat after gaining 0.89 percent to a record high the day before.
“The U.S. economic data released yesterday was all strong, confirming that the U.S. economy is firmly on track to recover,” said Norihiro Fujito, chief investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities .
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The brighter economic outlook was underlined by other data, including claims for the first time for unemployment benefits that fell last week to the lowest level since March 2020.
Despite solid data, U.S. bond yields fell, driven in part by Japanese buying, as they have begun a new fiscal year this month.
The U.S. Treasury’s 10-year yield fell to 1.529%, a five-week low, on Thursday and last at 1.566%, below the 14-month high of 1.776% established at the end of March.
“The market has already had a full price on the U.S. economic recovery in the short term. And if the Federal Reserve keeps interest rates suspended for the next two to three years, there will no doubt be the transportation of North Americans would be very attractive compared to the Japanese or eurozone bonds, “said Chotaro Morita, SMBC Nikko Securities’ chief fixed income strategist.
The fall in long-term bond yields benefited equities, and in particular technology equities, given the idea that their historically costly valuations can be justified because investors would have no choice but to buy shares to offset low bond yields. .
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 (.SPX) was up 1.11%, while the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) was up 1.31%, reaching a record high in February.
In the foreign exchange market, the lower yields in the United States affected the US dollar.
The euro stood at $ 1.1965, after hitting a six-week high of $ 1.19935 overnight, while the US currency fell to a three-week low of 108.61 yen. .
Oil prices remained steady after surpassing four-week highs on Thursday after positive economic data from the United States and higher demand forecasts from the International Energy Agency (IEA) and OPEC.
Brent futures remained flat at $ 66.93 a barrel, while U.S. crude also changed little, to $ 63.42 a barrel, both ongoing to make its first substantial weekly gains at six.
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