Asian stocks jumped on Thursday on better-than-expected US and Australian jobs reports and an assurance from US Treasury secretary Tim Geithner that none of the biggest US banks are insolvent. Japan’s markets re-opened after a string of holidays. Futures on the S&P500 Index lost 0.2% after the gauge climbed 1.7% on Wednesday.
Asian markets (Thurs)
03:00 BST
Nikkei up 401.65 (4.47%) at 9,379.02
Topix up 38.45 (4.54%) at 885.30
Hang Seng up 321.33 (1.91%) at 17,155.90
US markets (Wed)
S&P500 up 15.73 (1.74%) at 919.53
DJIA up 101.63 (1.21%) at 8,512.28
Nasdaq up 4.98 (0.28%) at 1,759.10
European markets (Wed)
FTSE100 up 59.55 (1.37%) at 4,396.49
Eurofirst 300 up 11.74 (1.39%) at 858.55
Currencies
03:10 BST
€/$ 1.3313 ( 1.3249)
$/¥ 98.68 (98.15)
£/$ 1.5147 (1.5008)
Commodities
03:05 BST
Brent Crude (ICE) up $0.60 at $56.75
Light Crude (Nymex) up $0.02 at $56.36
100 Oz Gold (Comex) up $1.40 at $912.40
Copper (Comex) down $1.30 at $217.55
10-year government bond yields (%)
03:50 BST
US 3.19 (3.17)
UK 3.60 ( 3.55)
Germany 3.23 ( 3.21)
Japan 1.41 (1.40)
Sources: FT, Bloomberg