Asian index futures climbed, tracking gains in the U.S. where the Standard & Poor's 500 Index set a fresh record. The dollar held losses and Australian bonds rose, while U.S. oil trimmed its ninth straight weekly advance.
Futures on stock gauges from Japan to Hong Kong added at least 0.2 percent in recent trading, while contracts on the S&P 500 were little changed by 8:53 a.m. in Tokyo after technology shares drove the index up 1.1 percent. The greenback headed for its worst week against Australia's dollar in more than a year and was near an almost three-month low versus the euro. Ten-year Australian yields followed a retreat in German bund and U.S. Treasury rates. Oil in New York fell a third day.
Prospects the weaker dollar will make American products more competitive helped stoke the S&P 500's first increase this week, as Apple Inc. to Microsoft Corp. rallied. A run of disappointing economic data is damping the outlook for higher interest rates in the U.S., with wholesale prices falling unexpectedly Thursday. South Korea reviews rates Friday, while Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda speaks in Tokyo.
"A much calmer situation in the bond markets helped equities rebound from recent lackluster performance," Stan Shamu, a markets strategist in Melbourne at IG Ltd., wrote in an e-mail to clients. "However, I would caution investors against getting too excited about the overnight gains. Trade has been extremely choppy in recent weeks and we are yet to see any sustainable short-term trends."
Dollar Retreat
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, which tracks the U.S. currency against 10 major peers, was little changed near a four-month low after sliding 0.3 percent in a third day of declines Thursday, closing at its lowest level since Jan. 21.
The dollar had climbed nine straight months through March on speculation the first rate hike in almost a decade was looming. The greenback was steady at $ 1.1399 per euro, following three days of losses, headed for a weekly drop of 1.8 percent. The euro briefly trimmed gains Thursday after President Mario Draghi said the European Central Bank will implement its bond-buying program "in full."
Rates on Australian 10-year bonds slipped six basis points, or 0.06 percentage point, to 2.94 percent. Yields on New Zealand government notes due in a decade fell for the first time in four days, declining four basis points to 3.71 percent.
Ten-year Treasury yields slipped six basis points to 2.23 percent last session, while rates on 10-year German debt dropped two basis points to 0.70 percent, their first decline this week. More than $ 400 billion has been wiped off the value of global bonds in May, led by a rout in bunds amid speculation inflation is recovering.
Trades Reversed
Yields on 30-year U.S. Treasuries retreated four basis points to 3.05 percent after surging seven basis points on Wednesday. Investors in the U.S. and Europe clamored to buy securities at government debt auctions this week, even as prices of outstanding bonds tumbled in secondary-market trading.
"We've seen a reversal in what were some pretty crowded trades," Carin Pai, director of equity strategy at Fiduciary Trust Company International in New York, said by phone. "With the ECB announcing their QE program there was a lot of pressure on European bond yields," she said, referring to the central bank's quantitative easing asset purchase program.
Futures on Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average were bid for 19,680 on the Osaka pre-market, after closing at 19,550 Thursday. Contracts on Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index added 0.6 percent, while futures on the Kospi index in Seoul were up 0.4 percent.
Oil Market
Hang Seng Index futures gained 0.3 percent in recent trading, as contracts on the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, a gauge of Chinese shares listed in Hong Kong, climbed 0.5 percent. FTSE China A50 Index futures advanced 0.6 percent in Singapore.
West Texas Intermediate crude fell to $ 59.80 a barrel, paring its gain in the week to 0.7 percent after data showed the biggest drop in U.S. refinery activity in four months cut crude demand.
Refinery utilization slowed by 1.8 percentage points last week, the biggest decline since Jan. 16, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said Wednesday. Oil supply from both the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and U.S. shale drillers is set to expand later this year, weighing on prices, hedge fund manager Pierre Andurand said.
No comments:
Post a Comment