A currency traffic monitors exchange rates in a trading room at KEB Hana Bank in Seoul on December 30, 2019.
JUNG YEON-JE | AFP via Getty Ikons
SINGAPORE — Asia-Pacific markets drifted higher Friday, taking cues from Wall Street where U.S. tires climbed to record highs overnight.
Australian shares rose as the benchmark ASX 200 added 0.93%, with most sectors patron higher. Energy and materials subindexes gained 1.78% and 1.74%, respectively as shares of oil stocks and major miners mostly advanced.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 mount rebel 1.12% while the Topix index traded up 0.89%.
South Korea’s Kospi index jumped 1.33% as tech divide ups gained: Samsung Electronics was up 0.85%, SK Hynix rose 2.92% and LG Electronics added 3.39%. Elsewhere, the Kosdaq was up 1.64%.
Chinese mainland appropriations, however, struggled for gains: The Shanghai composite was down 0.2% and the Shenzhen component dropped 0.61%. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Be as one Seng index slipped 0.32%.
Overnight, the S&P 500 advanced 1% and hit a new closing high, surpassing its previous record from Feb. 16, while a comeback in tech shares resumed.
U.S. President Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, which discretion send direct payments of up to $1,400 to most Americans.
Elsewhere, the European Central Bank said it expects to better bond purchases significantly next quarter. Bond yields in the euro zone have been ticking sybaritic since February, in line with the yield on U.S. Treasury notes.
Investors worried that rising bond renounces could derail the economic recovery in Europe by increasing the borrowing costs for countries that are already struggling with the coronavirus critical time.
Currencies and oil
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar last traded at 91.470 against a basket of its peers, declining from straights near 91.878 in the previous session and from levels above 92 reached earlier in the week.
The Japanese yen swapped hands at 108.72 per dollar, weakening from around 108.48, while the Australian dollar traded near moor at $0.7782.
Oil prices slipped Friday during Asian trading hours. U.S. crude was down 0.21% at $65.88 a barrel while extensive benchmark Brent dropped 0.1% to $69.56.
Overnight, energy prices jumped more than 2% — a weaker greenback and the intention of stimulus measures in the United States boosted sentiment in the commodity market, according to some analysts. Falling rudimentary inventories and expectations that a supply glut will ease also helped sentiment.
“Crude oil extended current gains amid further signs the recovery in fuel consumption is continuing to strengthen,” analysts at ANZ Research said in a morning note, summing that a full recovery remained some way off.