Australian and Indian elections boost Asian equities and trade fears dwindle By Reuters



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© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A man looks at an electronic map showing the Nikkei stock index outside a broker in Tokyo

By Andrew Galbraith

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Asian stocks made up for some of last week's losses as investors praised the apparent victories in the election of conservative incumbents in Australia and India, while Washington said it was not the case. offended global trade concerns after the proposal to lift some tariffs in North America.

The widest MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares out of Japan rose 0.54%, reflecting modest gains in the region's markets after the end of the index at most low since Friday, January 24, down 3% for the week.

However, it is unlikely that the rally will spread to Europe. In the first European trade, pan-regional sales were down 0.21% to 3,393, the German slipped 0.16% to 12,227, the futures dropped by 0.01% to 7,334, 5 and France down 0.2% to 5,361.5.

Australian stocks boosted morale in the region, rising 1.74 percent after the Liberal National Center-Right Coalition won the federal election, beating the left-wing Labor party.

The elections also raised markets in India. The BSE benchmark rose by 2.71% and the rupee strengthened after exit polls showed that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was likely to return in power with an even larger majority in parliament.

The United States rose 0.23% following losses on Wall Street on Friday.

"We've had a couple of volatile days in terms of statements and interpretations about what's going on with this potential trade war, and I think the news we've had this weekend seems to indicate a softening of the situation. Trump's approach to international pricing, "said Jim McCafferty, head of equity research, Asia ex-Japan at Nomura.

The United States announced on Friday that it would eliminate Canadian steel and aluminum tariffs, prompting Canada 's foreign minister to promise early ratification of the Canadian steel and aluminum tariffs. a new North American trade agreement.

"I think people might think that a similar strategy could perhaps be applied to Asia," said McCafferty, referring to the removal of tariffs.

Cautious optimism did not help lift Chinese blue chips, which fell 1%.

Japan's stock index rose 0.24%, after data showed that the growth of the world's third-largest economy accelerated unexpectedly in the first quarter.

The modest gains recorded Monday in Asia were recorded while financial markets remained under pressure in the face of the intensification of the trade war between Canada and the United States. The Trump administration last week added Huawei Technologies Co Ltd to blacklist trade.

The repercussions of this move were evident when Alphabet (NASDAQ 🙂 Inc. suspended Google's activities with Huawei, which requires the transfer of hardware, software and technical services, with the exception of those available to the public via open source licenses.

Greg McKenna, a strategist at McKenna Macro, said investors were currently making "headlines" due to lingering uncertainty about Brexit and growing tensions between the United States and Iran.

"(It is) too early to see the economic consequences of the battle intensifying.And so the belief can be suspended until then," said McKenna in a note to customers.

OIL SAFE

The growing tensions in the Middle East, which have supported oil prices, have become even more intense this weekend, when Trump has issued new threats, tweeting that a conflict with Iran would be the "worst case". official end of this country.

But it is the comments of the Saudi energy minister that have had the most immediate effect on crude prices on Monday.

Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said there was a consensus among members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to maintain production cuts in order to reduce sweetness "stocks.

Both jumped more than 1.3% on Monday, with West Texas Intermediate reaching $ 63.58 a barrel and Brent $ 73.19 a barrel.

In the currency markets, China rebounded after touching its weakest against the dollar since November Friday. He was trading for the last time at $ 6.9390 for a dollar.

On Friday, in the onshore trade, the yuan weakened beyond the psychologically important level of 6.9 to the dollar and reached its lowest level in 19 weeks. However, sources told Reuters that the country's central bank should use currency intervention and monetary policy tools to prevent its weakening to a level near the $ 7 dollar level in the near term.

The People's Bank of China said on Sunday that it would maintain the basic stability of the yuan exchange rate in "reasonable and balanced range".

The strengthening at 6.9125 for a dollar on Monday.

The dollar added 0.08% against the yen at 110.16, while the euro fell to 1.1152 dollars. The, which follows the bank note against a basket of six major rivals, was at the height of one hair at 98,028.

The benchmark return reached 2.4033% against a US closing of 2.393% on Friday, while the two-year return was 2.2146%, up from 2.202% in the US.

Gold has trimmed its previous gains on the modest recovery in risk appetite, losing 0.1% to $ 1,275.91 an ounce.

(GRAPHIC: The Chinese yuan is strengthening – https://tmsnrt.rs/2We5yvU)

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