Asian stocks rose on Thursday, reports Bloomberg, sending the MSCI Asia Pacific Index toward its biggest weekly gain since May, as a weaker yen boosted Japanese makers of cars and electronics and the Federal Reserve said the US economy had improved. Futures on the S&P500 Index added 0.2% after the gauge increased for a third day on Wednesday after the Fed’s comments.
Asian markets (Thurs)
04:30 GMT
Nikkei 225 up 264.16 (2.75%) 9,873.10
Topix up 22.30 (2.60%) at 881.04
Hang Seng up 112.38 (0.50%) at 22,401.95
US markets (Wed)
S&P 500 up 0.38 (0.03%) at 1,109.24
DJIA down 18.90 (-0.18%) at 10,452.68
Nasdaq up 9.22 (0.42%) at 2,185.03
European markets (Wed)
Eurofirst 300 up 4.71 (0.47%) at 1,015.77
FTSE100 up 15.22 (0.29%) at 5,327.39
Currencies
04:27 GMT
€/$ 1.5087 (1.5099)
$/¥ 87.79 (87.00)
£/$ 1.6672 (1.6613)
Commodities (continuous)
04:26 GMT
Brent Crude (ICE) up $0.50 at $78.38
Light Crude (Nymex) up $0.34 at $76.94
100 Oz Gold (Comex) up $13.80 at $1,226.80
Copper (Comex) up $0.40 at $323.55
10-year government bond yields (%)
04:28 GMT
US 3.32 (3.28)
UK 3.59 (3.54)
Germany 3.17 (3.17)
Japan 1.25 (1.27)
Source: FT, Bloomberg