· Stocks, oil rise in Asia after U.S. records, dollar weakens
Asian stock markets rose on Tuesday after a record-setting day on Wall Street, while bitcoin paused for breath after an overnight endorsement from Tesla Inc sent the cryptocurrency up 20%.
Oil also hit 13-month highs, helped by rising optimism about a return in fuel demand
Back in Asia, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.37% to 722.95 after climbing as high as 730.16 late last month.
Gains were led by Chinese blue chips which were up 1.67%, while the Hong Kong benchmark rose 0.51% and Korea’s rose 0.27%, with chip giants benefiting from the bitcoin excitement.
Iris Pang chief economist for Greater China at ING said Chinese markets’ strong performance was a result of investors buying ahead of the Chinese New Year break, anticipating that prices would be higher after the holiday.
Chinese stock exchanges are closed for a week from Thursday.
Tuesday’s gains in Asia matched the so-called reflation trades around the world, in which global markets bid up stocks, oil and gold while U.S. Treasury yields held shy of 11-month highs.
“Reflation on the back of U.S. fiscal stimulus and positive vaccine news remains the major theme for markets,” strategists at National Australia Bank wrote.
Expectations have been building that inflation would pick up as governments and central banks continue massive spending and easy money policies until officials are certain that their economies will recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
· Brent above $60 a barrel
Oil prices were higher in the afternoon of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures 0.76% higher at $61.02, holding above the $60 per barrel mark recently crossed for the first time in more than a year. U.S. crude futures also gained about 0.74% to $58.40 per barrel.
Shares of oil companies in Asia-Pacific mostly advanced, with Australia’s Santos up 0.21%. Japan’s Inpex also rose 1.86% while Hong Kong-listed shares of PetroChina jumped 3.35%. Beach Energy in Australia, however, slipped 1.87%.
· Nikkei ends at fresh 30-year high on robust corporate earnings
Tokyo stocks extended gains for the third straight session on Tuesday, with the benchmark Nikkei ending at a fresh 30-year high, as strong domestic corporate earnings boosted optimism for an early economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended up 117.43 points, or 0.40 percent, from Monday at 29,505.93, its highest closing since Aug. 3, 1990.
The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange finished 1.59 points, or 0.08 percent, higher at 1,925.54.
· Singapore’s top banks will report fourth-quarter earnings this month. Here’s what to expect
The city-state’s largest lender, DBS Group Holdings, will be the first to report earnings on Wednesday. Smaller peers Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp and United Overseas Bank will release earnings on Feb. 24 and Feb. 25, respectively.
Singapore-listed banks are typically favored by investors for their steady dividends. But like many bank stocks around the world, they fell out of favor early last year as many countries went into lockdown to contain the spread of Covid-19.
Estimates for fourth quarter 2020
Singapore posted its worst ever economic recession in 2020, when its economy contracted by 5.8% from a year ago, according to the government’s advance estimates. The contraction was less than official predictions for a decline of between 6% and 6.5%.
The Southeast Asian economy is expected to grow between 4% and 6% this year as the number of daily Covid infections have slowed down. As of Sunday, the city-state has confirmed more than 59,600 cases and 29 deaths, the health ministry’s data showed.
All three Singapore-listed banks have set aside funds totaling billions of Singapore dollars in the first nine months of 2020 to cushion potential losses following the pandemic’s economic hit.
Analysts said the banks would likely have continued to increase their allowances in the final quarter of 2020.
· European markets flat despite global gains
European stocks were muted on Tuesday morning, bucking a positive trend seen in Asia and the U.S. at the start of the trading week.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 hovered around the flatline in early trade, with utilities shedding 0.4% while oil and gas stocks added 0.6%.
The lackluster open in Europe comes despite a global rally on Monday that saw U.S. stocks hit record highs.
U.S. stock futures were little changed early Tuesday morning as Wall Street looked to hold on to gains from its February hot streak.
Reference: CNBC, Reuters, Nippon
Thai
Eng