Asian shares rose on Friday, helped by retreating oil prices and a firmer Wall Street close while the euro perked up after the central bank signalled a rate rise as early as next month, reports Reuters. Shares in Tokyo and Seoul rose by more than 1% after strong gains in US stocks as players bet that data due later on Friday will underscore steady recovery in the world’s largest economy.
The broader MSCI index of Asia-ex Japan stocks was up more than 1%, extending its weekly gains to more than 2%. Oil retreated from 30-month highs on profit taking after Venezuela pitched a plan to resolve the Libyan crisis, which markets greeted with scepticism. The pull-back in oil follows two days of strong gains that sent a key technical indicator to its most overbought level in more than five years for Brent crude.
Earlier the FT reported that stocks made strong gains on Thursday and government bonds saw sharp losses, as traders suddenly shifted focus from $100-a-barrel oil and Middle East turmoil to better US jobs and service sector data.
Higher interest rates in the core sovereign bond complex and a flattening yield curve – often a bearish sign for equities – following hawkish comments from ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet, dampened investor enthusiasm. In a sign of divided views on eurozone monetary policy, core and peripheral eurozone equities went in opposite directions as traders reckoned any hike in the bloc’s interest rates would harm the likes of Spain and Italy.
Asian markets
Nikkei 225 up +152.84 (+1.44%) at 10,739
Topix up +7.36 (+0.78%) at 956.05
Hang Seng up +303.95 (+1.31%) at 23,426
US markets
S&P 500 up +22.53 (+1.72%) at 1,331
DJIA up +191.40 (+1.59%) at 12,258
Nasdaq up +50.67 (+1.84%) at 2,799
European markets
Eurofirst 300 up +2.21 (+0.19%) at 1,156
FTSE100 up +90.20 (+1.52%) at 6,005
CAC 40 up +26.44 (+0.66%) at 4,061
Dax up +44.84 (+0.62%) at 7,226
Currencies
€/$ 1.40 (1.40)
$/¥ 82.38 (82.41)
£/$ 1.63 (1.63)
Commodities ($)
Brent Crude (ICE) up +0.56 at 115.35
Light Crude (Nymex) up +0.37 at 102.28
100 Oz Gold (Comex) unchanged 0.00 at 1,416
Copper (Comex) down -0.80 at 446.70
10-year government bond yields (%)
US 3.56 (3.47)
UK 3.79 (3.73)
Germany 3.32 (3.20)
Japan 1.29 (1.27)
CDS (closing levels)
Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe -1.26bps at 175.19bp
Markit iTraxx Europe +0.14bps at 99.14bp
Markit iTraxx Xover -1.93bps at 383.57bp
Markit CDX IG -2.52bps at 82.48bp
Sources: FT, Bloomberg, Markit