Asia Set for Rally After U.S. Stocks Rebound: Markets Wrap

Asia Set for Rally After U.S. Stocks Rebound: Markets Wrap
Adam Haigh
Updated

(Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks looked set to follow their U.S. peers higher Friday as moves to limit retail trader speculation led to gains in stocks that hedge funds had been forced to abandon. The dollar retreated.

Futures were up more than 1% in Japan and Hong Kong, while Australian shares opened higher. S&P 500 contracts slipped after the gauge rebounded from its worse loss since October. Trading platforms restricted activity in stocks whipsawed by internet chatrooms, from GameStop Corp. to AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. Hedge funds that had shorted the shares were burned in recent days, forcing them to reduce holdings to lower risk levels. Treasuries retreated, pushing the yield on 10-year notes up to 1.05%.

All 11 industry groups in the S&P 500 traded higher, with sentiment also boosted by solid corporate earnings from the likes of Mastercard Inc. and Comcast Corp. and a surprise drop in jobless claims. Still, oil declined the most in nearly a week with the spread of new Covid-19 variants and tighter lockdown measures weighing on nascent hopes of a demand recovery.

Global stocks have seen a volatile week after a prolonged rally spurred talk of asset bubbles and predictions of a pullback given the still-raging pandemic and patchy rollout of vaccines. The turmoil created by internet chat rooms has stoked fears of broader consequences for Wall Street, particularly hedge funds, but that fear appeared to subside on Thursday.

“There are a lot of reasons to continue to think we may see gains and I’m not negative on the stock market, I would just say that it’s rich in some areas right now,” Michael Cuggino, portfolio manager at Pacific Heights Asset Management LLC, said on Bloomberg TV. “We are long in the tooth with this bull market.”

These are the main moves in markets:

Stocks

S&P 500 futures slipped 0.4% as of 8:05 a.m. in Tokyo. The gauge jumped 1% on Thursday.Futures on Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 1.1%.Hang Seng futures earlier added 1.5%.Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 0.6%.

Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index slipped 0.1%.The euro bought $1.2122.The offshore yuan traded at 6.4720 per dollar.The yen was at 104.24 per dollar.

Bonds

The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose three basis points to 1.05%.

Commodities

West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.3% to $52.16 a barrel.Gold was at $1,842.59 an ounce.

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