Asia stocks mostly gain despite ‘fragile’ market sentiment
- Stocks in Japan, South Korea and Australia saw gains in morning trade on Thursday.
- Oil prices recovered on Wednesday after plunging earlier in the week.
- Stocks in Asia traded up on Thursday morning following a mostly higher finish on Wall Street as the U.S. nears the Thanksgiving holiday.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 advanced 0.27 percent in early trade while the Topix saw gains of 0.17 percent. South Korea’s Kospi traded fractionally higher.
in Australia, the benchmark ASX 200rose 0.51 percent, with most sectors in positive territory.
The heavily weighted financial subindex advanced 0.32 percent, with shares of Australia’s so-called Big Four banks mostly seeing gains. Australia and New Zealand Banking Group rose 1.02 percent, Commonwealth Bank of Australia gained 0.54 percent and National Australia Bank advanced 0.62 percent. Westpac, however, slipped 0.23 percent.
*Muted movements on Wall Street*
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed largely flat at 21,464.69 while the S&P 500 rose 0.3 percent to 2,649.93. The Nasdaq Composite also advanced 0.9 percent to close at 6,972.25.
To be sure, Wednesday’s moves came on a day with very low trading volume as most of Wall Street was away for the Thanksgiving holiday. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), which tracks the S&P 500, traded just over 71 million shares, well below its 30-day average volume of 130.3 million.
*Oil prices stage a partial recovery*
Oil prices saw a recovery on Wednesday after plunging earlier in the week.
The global benchmark Brent crude futures was up 81 cents, or 1.3 percent, at $63.34 per barrel at 2:30 p.m. ET Wednesday. Brent fell to a low going back to December 2017 in the previous session.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crudeended Wednesday’s session $1.20, or 2.3 percent higher, at $54.63. WTI hit its lowest price level since October 2017 on Tuesday.
During the morning of Asian trading hours on Thursday, U.S. futures were largely flat at $54.67 per barrel.
U.S. crude stocks rose 4.9 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said, a larger-than-expected increase. Crude inventories have risen for nine straight weeks, the longest streak of increases since March 2017.
*Currencies*
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 96.712 after seeing earlier highs above 96.8.
The Japanese yen was at 113.04 against the dollar after weakening from around the 112.7 handle yesterday. The Australian dollar traded at $0.7263 after rising from levels around $0.72 in the previous session.
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) set the yuan reference rate at 6.9391 vs Wednesday’s fix of 6.9449.
- Oil prices rebound after a 6-percent plunge in the previous session.
- U.S. crude stockpiles rose by 4.9 million barrels last week, government data shows.
- Fearing an oil glut, OPEC pushes for a supply curb, but Trump support for Saudi Arabia makes oil output cut harder, say analysts.
Oil prices rose as much as 4 percent on Wednesday, recovering from the lowest levels in months, after U.S. government data showed strong demand for refined fuel, but concerns remained over rising global crude supply.
Brent crude, the global benchmark, was up 81, or 1.3 percent, at $63.34 per barrel at 2:30 p.m. ET. Brent fell to a low going back to December 2017 in the previous session.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crudeended Wednesday’s session $1.20, or 2.3 percent higher, at $54.63. WTI hit its lowest price level since October 2017 on Tuesday.
U.S. crude stocks rose 4.9 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said, a larger-than-expected increase. Crude inventories have risen for nine straight weeks, the longest streak of increases since March 2017.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery hub for WTI fell 116,000 barrels, the first drop in nine weeks, EIA said.
Gasoline stocks fell 1.3 million barrels to the lowest level since December 2017, while distillate stockpiles dropped by 77,000 barrels, the EIA data showed.
