Asia Stocks Outside Japan Rise, Oil Extends Gains – 28 March, 2017
Asian stocks outside Japan built on gains for a second day as a rise in consumer confidence rekindled optimism in the strength of the U.S. economy.
Equities in Australia, Hong Kong and New Zealand all rose after the S&P 500 Index posted its biggest gain in two weeks, lifted by data showing American consumers are more upbeat than any time since 2000. Japanese stocks were lower, with the Topix index weighed down as more than 1,500 companies traded without rights to the next dividend payment. Energy producers climbed in Asia as crude topped $48 a barrel.
Global stocks are on course for a fifth straight month of gains, with the MSCI All-Country World Index trading within a whisker of its all-time high reached earlier this month. That’s happening even as some reflation trades were rattled in March, while Federal Reserve officials reiterated that two more interest-rate increases in 2017 seem appropriate. A Bloomberg gauge of the dollar remains 3.7 percent lower this year.
Here are this week’s key events:
- The start of two years of Brexit negotiations will be formally triggered by a letter from U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday.
- Proposals to design and build U.S. President Donald Trump’s promised 2,000-mile border wall between the U.S. and Mexico are due March 29.
- Hungary, Mexico, South Africa and Thailand are among countries setting interest rates.
- Samsung Electronics Co. will introduce its Galaxy S8 smartphone, the company’s first new mobile phone since the debacle with the Note 7 battery fires that led to its recall.
Here are the main moves in markets:
- The yen traded at 111.11 per dollar, little changed as of 10:26 a.m. in Tokyo, after dropping 0.4 percent on Tuesday.
- The Topix fell 0.3 percent. More than three-quarters of the index went ex-dividend, equating to a 13.93 point drop.
- Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index added 0.8 percent and South Korea’s Kospi index rose 0.1 percent. The Hang Seng Index advanced 0.5 percent and the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index rose 0.8 percent.
- Contracts on the S&P 500 rose 0.1 percent. The underlying index climbed 0.7 percent and the Stoxx Europe 600 Index added 0.6 percent on Tuesday.
- The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed, after adding 0.5 percent on Tuesday, halting a two-day slide.
- Yields on 10-year Treasuries were flat. The rate rose four basis points to 2.41 percent Tuesday after falling three basis points on Monday.
- The yield on Australian government bonds with a similar maturity rose three basis points to 2.73 percent.
Source: Bloomberg