SYDNEY / NEW YORK (Reuters) – Asian stocks posted a spike on Wall Street on Thursday, although sentiment was cautious ahead of US employment data.
FILE PHOTO: An SGX sign is displayed on the Singapore Stock Exchange on July 19, 2017. REUTERS / Edgar Su
MSCI’s broader index of Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan rose 0.9% with all major indexes trading higher in hopes of a vaccine for COVID-19, which has killed more than half a million people in all over the world and has closed the world economy.
Japan’s Nikkei was up 0.4%, China’s blue chip index added 0.6%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up 1.7%.
E-mini futures for the S&P 500 were flat.
US employment figures released later in the day are expected to show whether the world’s largest economy can maintain its fragile recovery as new cases of COVID-19 accelerate in several southern states.
Economists surveyed by Reuters expect private employers to show 2.9 million new jobs in June, which would follow a surprising increase in May. However, casting some doubt on that projection was less than expected job growth in the ADP report on Wednesday.
“A better-than-expected result could help resolve the short-term debate that the US job market will recover relatively quickly and justify new highs in US equities,” said Stephen Innes, strategist at AxiCorp.
Wall Street ended higher on Wednesday after key economic indicators showed a rebound in Chinese manufacturing activity as it recovers from the pandemic, while sharp declines in European manufacturing activity slowed.
Risk sentiment was stimulated by a COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech of Germany, which was found to be well tolerated in early-stage human trials.[.N]
Equity investors ignored concerns over Hong Kong, where police arrested more than 300 people protesting new laws enacted by China to eliminate dissent.
Those events have raised concerns about China’s already strained relations with its main western trading partners, particularly the United States.
The United States House of Representatives on Wednesday passed legislation that would penalize banks doing business with Chinese officials who implement a national security law.
In commodities, August’s most heavily traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange touched 49,570 yuan ($ 7,016.28) per ton, its highest level since Dec. 30, 2019.
Manufacturing activity rebounded in the United States in June, while the manufacturing sector in Germany, Europe’s largest economy, contracted at a slower rate and the largest copper consumer, China, released better-than-expected manufacturing data. expected.
Meanwhile, in Chile, where the number of COVID-19 cases has increased, miner BHP said it would begin to decrease production at its small Cerro Colorado copper mine in the country.
Elsewhere, oil prices declined and gold was also a little softer, while the dollar remained stable as a precautionary signal from investors despite encouraging macro data.[O/R][GOL/]
Brent crude fell 6 cents to $ 41.97 a barrel. US crude oil lost 12 cents at $ 39.70 a barrel. Gold futures in the United States were 0.12% lower, at $ 1,777.70.
Safehaven’s dollar was unchanged against the Japanese yen at 107.45. The euro barely budged and was last at $ 1.1254, while the pound sterling was treading water at $ 1.2477.
That left the dollar index at 97,139.
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