Post-election Wall Street surge leads Asia higher
Asian stocks rose on Thursday as investors, relieved to have moved past the U.S. midterm elections without any major political surprises, drove a Wall Street rally, while the dollar clawed back some of its earlier losses.
Asian stocks rose on Thursday as investors, relieved to have moved past the U.S. midterm elections without any major political surprises, drove a Wall Street rally, while the dollar clawed back some of its earlier losses.
MSCI`s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.5 percent.
Australian stocks rose 0.5 percent, South Korea`s KOSPI added 1.8 percent and Japan`s Nikkei gained 2.1 percent.
TRENDING NOW
Wall Street`s main indexes rose more than 2 percent on Wednesday, led by the technology and healthcare sectors as the market breathed a sigh of relief after the U.S. midterm elections, in which Democrats wrested control of the House of Representatives and Republicans retained the Senate. [.N]
While a divided Congress will make it harder for President Donald Trump to push through new legislation, such as additional tax cuts, investors do not expect a reversal of recently enacted tax cuts and deregulation.
"The key point after the midterm elections is that U.S. stocks showed they had developed immunity towards higher yields. The last time long-term Treasury yields were at this level a month ago, they had helped trigger a major fall by stocks," said Junichi Ishikawa, senior FX strategist at IG Securities in Tokyo.
"Steady U.S. fundamentals will support this trend of equities and yields rising in tandem, which should also prop up the dollar in the longer term."
The 10-year Treasury note yield
The dollar index against a basket of six major currencies was at 96.18, after pulling back from a 2-1/2-week low of 95.678 plumbed on Wednesday.
The greenback had fallen to the low on Wednesday in a knee-jerk reaction to the U.S. midterm election results, with a divided Congress seen dulling President Trump`s fiscal stimulus drive.
Some focus was on the Federal Reserve`s monetary policy due later on Thursday. The Fed, however, is not expected to hike interest rates until its next gathering in December and analysts expected this meeting to have limited market impact.
The euro was 0.05 percent higher at $1.1433
The dollar was a shade higher at 113.56 yen
In commodities, U.S. crude futures
Oil was pressured after surging U.S. crude output hit another record and domestic inventories rose more than expected.
07:01 am
Mcap of four of top 10 most-valued firms rises by Rs 65,671 crore
India's space economy set to reach USD 40 billion by 2040: Union Minister Jitendra Singh 
Germany's economy shrank, and it's facing a spending crisis that's spreading more gloom 
Japan's economy contracts as recession risks grow
China's 2023 growth target within reach - China bank governor