Business

Stocks trying to hold momentum in Asian after US records

Global stocks were poised to rise again on Tuesday in Asian trading after another record-setting day on Wall Street.

A man wearing a mask, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, stands on an overpass
FILE PHOTO: A man wearing a face mask, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, stands on an overpass with an electronic board showing Shanghai and Shenzhen stock indexes, at the Lujiazui financial district in Shanghai, China January 6, 2021. REUTERS/Aly Song
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REUTERS: Global stocks were poised to rise again on Tuesday in Asian trading after another record-setting day on Wall Street.

Japan's Nikkei 225 futures rose 0.15per cent, e-mini futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.04per cent and Australian S&P/ASX 200 futures rose 0.12per cent in early trading.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was last up 0.04per cent at 720.5.

The early action came after another day of so-called reflation trades around the world in which global markets bid up stocks, cryptocurrencies, oil and gold while U.S. Treasury yields held near 11-month highs and the dollar steadied.

Expectations have been building that inflation will 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.

"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.

Wall Street reached all-time closing highs on Monday as the Nasdaq Composite added nearly 1per cent and the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained about 0.75per cent.

Cryptocurrency bitcoin rose more than 15per cent on Monday to another record high of US$45,000 after Tesla Inc said it had invested around US$1.5 billion in the virtual currency and expects to accept it as payment for its cars in the future.

Oil prices rose more than 2per cent on Monday to their highest levels in more than a year, with Brent nudging past US$60 a barrel.

"There is a sense that the glut of oil supply is disappearing more rapidly than anybody thought possible," said Phil Flynn, senior analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago. "There seems to be a paradigm shift in the market."

Spot gold jumping more than 1per cent on Monday to US$1,830.17 an ounce as expectations of a large U.S. economic stimulus package bolstered its appeal as an inflation hedge.

The dollar index which stabilized on Monday after tripping at the end of last week on a weaker-than-expected jobs report, and was last down a bare 0.04per cent at 90.964.

Against the yen, the dollar was flat at 105.22.

(Reporting by David Henry in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Source: Reuters