Asian equities start their new month on a firm footing after a torrid October

TOKYO (Reuters) – Equity investors got off to a good start in Asia in November, with Thursday's session enjoying another strong performance on Wall Street, while the pound sterling surged on a report reporting that Britain had signed an agreement allowing it to continue to offer its financial services access to European markets after Brexit.

Spreadbetters expected that European equities would follow Asia's lead and open up, with German Germany DAX and the French ACP all increasing 0.1%, while the UK FTSE is expected to lose 0.4% after appreciation of the pound.

MSCI's largest share of Asia-Pacific equities outside Japan rose 0.7%, contributing to modest gains the day before, although they were after October brutal.

The index fell by 10.2% in October, its worst monthly performance since August 2015, with tensions ranging from Sino-US trade tensions to worries about global economic growth, rising US interest rates, and corporate earnings that have led to volatility in global markets.

There were timid signs of the sluggishness that was slowly starting to rise, driven by a rebound in slumped US stocks.

Wall Street progressed for Wednesday's second day, as corporate earnings and the good deal of proven technology and internet favorites lifted the spirit. [.N]

The mood enhancement has infiltrated Asia. Hong Kong Hang Seng rose 1.5% and the Shanghai Composite Index 0.2%.

The Nikkei of Japan resisted the trend and lost 1% after two days of significant gains.

"What we're seeing is that equity markets are trying to rebound after a trough. Corporate profits in the US and Japanese markets have been relatively strong overall, which means there are plenty of bargain-hunting opportunities, "said Soichiro Monji, chief economist at Daiwa SB Investments in Tokyo. .

"The current rebound still has room. The US-China trade conflict will continue to emerge as a market factor, but the worst fears seem to have calmed for the moment, at least in the US mid-term elections. "

Sterling jumped 0.65% to 1.2848 USD after the Times announced that British Prime Minister Theresa May had signed an agreement with Brussels that would give British financial services companies continued access to European markets after Brexit.

The rebound has raised the pound – recently worried about whether Britain could get an orderly exit from the European Union – further down a 2-and-a-half-month low hit on Tuesday.

The rise of Sterling has allowed the dollar to come out of its recent peak. An index that measures the strength of the US dollar against a basket of six major currencies fell 0.27% to 96.867.

The dollar index had hit a 16-month high of 97.20 today, according to a national employment report from the ADP, which showed that private sector payrolls in the US had risen as much as they could. eight months in October.

The greenback recently benefited from robust economic reports, including data released last week that showed the US economy was slowing less than expected in the third quarter.

"For the moment, we believe that the strength of the US economy and the ever-stimulating financial conditions will see the Fed continue to tighten despite increasing external vulnerabilities," economists wrote at ANZ.

"In this environment, it is possible that higher US yields, coupled with slower growth in emerging markets, continue to weigh on emerging markets. The Fed is not about to come to the rescue of the financial markets, not yet, anyway. "

The euro rose 0.3% to $ 1.1333, after falling to $ 11.302 on Wednesday, its lowest level since mid-August.

The single currency has been weighed by less than stellar economic news from the euro area.

The Australian dollar rose 0.75% to 0.7125 USD after good domestic trade data helped dispel some of the fears of slowing growth in China, the main trading partner of the country. 39; Australia.

The Chinese yuan rose 6.9668 to a dollar in onshore trade after a stronger central bank daily recovery, but was not far from a lows of 6.9780 the day before by trade tensions and a slowdown in Chinese growth.

The People's Bank of China announced on Wednesday that it would issue invoices in Hong Kong for the first time, which would allow it to absorb excess liquidity in yuan in the onshore and offshore markets. to guide market expectations.

For commodities, futures on US crude declined 0.6% to $ 64.93 per barrel and Brent crude lost 0.63% to $ 74.57 per barrel.

Both benchmarks lagged after falling more than $ 10 from a four-year high reached in early October as last month's global market turmoil was seen as a drag on demand fuel.