SYDNEY (Reuters) – Asian stocks hit record highs on Monday as oil topped $ 60 a barrel in hopes of US lawmakers approving a 1.9-percent COVID-19 aid package trillions of dollars as soon as this month, just when coronavirus vaccines will be rolled out worldwide.
In a signal, the markets of Europe and the United States would start strong, the futures eurostoxx and the German DAX increased by 0.7% each, while the futures of London FTSE added 0.6%. Futures E-mini for the S&P 500 rose 0.4% in early Asian operations.
The mood was optimistic in Asia, with all major indices rising.
MSCI’s broader Asia-Pacific stock index outside of Japan rose 0.5% to 721.11, not far from the all-time high of 730.16 it touched at the end of last month.
The Japanese Nikkei jumped around 2%, while Australian shares finished 0.6% higher. Chinese stocks advanced with a blue CSI300 index up 1.3%.
Hopes of a faster economic recovery and supply slowdowns by the OPEC producer group and its allies pushed oil to its highest level in a year as it crossed the $ 60 a barrel. [O/R]
Global equity markets have climbed record highs in recent days in hopes of a faster economic recovery, driven by successful vaccine deployment and expectations of a large pandemic relief package in the United States. USA.
On Friday, the Nasdaq and S&P 500 hit all-time highs on corporate results stronger than expected in the fourth quarter and as companies were well on their way to record first-quarter earnings growth instead of declining . [.N]
The rallies occurred even as U.S. data drew a bleak picture of the country’s labor market with payrolls rising by 49,000, half of what economists expected.
The weak report boosted further momentum, and stressed the need for lawmakers to act on President Joe Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package.
Biden and his Democratic allies in Congress advanced their stimulus plan on Friday as lawmakers approved a budget scheme that will allow them to run in the coming weeks without Republican support.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yallen predicted the U.S. would reach full employment next year if Congress can approve its support package.
“This is a great call, as full employment is 4.1%, but it will adapt well to the market at a time when the vaccination program is being implemented efficiently in several countries,” Chris said Weston, Melbourne’s chief strategist. Pepperstone.
Still, expectations of U.S. economic recovery have not driven the greenback, “because the market sees this shift in outlook as part of a global recovery,” Westpac economists wrote in a note.
“Therefore, investors favor risk-taking and therefore value the security of the US dollar less.”
In fact, the greenback reached a four-month high against the Japanese yen and fell last to 105.50.
The euro was slightly weaker, at $ 1.2036, after rising 0.7% on Friday to a one-week high.
The risk-sensitive Australian dollar rose from a one-week high to $ 0.7675.
In commodities, Brent and US crude rose 59 cents each to $ 59.93 and $ 0.57.44, respectively.
U.S. gold futures rose 0.1% to $ 1,815.4 an ounce.
Edited by Shri Navaratnam and Jacqueline Wong