Asian Shares Mostly Higher Before Year Ends

RTTNews | 938天前

(RTTNews) - Asian stocks followed Wall Street higher on Friday, even as overall gains remained capped outside Hong Kong amid worries that a new COVID variant could emerge in China as the virus spreads widely and rapidly.

U.S. health officials and the World Health Organization (WHO) have called on China to share more information on the spread of COVID in the country, saying the lack of transparency could delay the identification of new COVID variants that pose a threat to public health.

Gold edged higher as the latest U.S. labor market data led to some dollar weakness and Treasury yields backing off.

Oil edged up slightly after a three-day run of declines as more countries announce restrictions on Chinese travelers.

China's Shanghai Composite index was up 0.6 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 1.2 percent in early trade.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the global body remains concerned over the evolving situation in China due to the unavailability of an apt amount of information from the country about the outbreak.

Japan's Nikkei index was up 0.2 percent after closing off a three-month low the previous day. The yen rose against the dollar as initial optimism over China's reopening fizzled.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose half a percent while New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX-50 index was down 0.6 percent. Seoul's stock markets remain closed for New Year's holiday.

U.S. stocks rallied overnight as investors sought to snap up bargains in the tech sector, looking past worries that new variants could emerge from China's continuing COVID outbreak.

Investors also digested data showing that jobless claims rose slightly in the week ended December 24 but held near historic lows.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index surged 2.6 percent, the S&P 500 climbed 1.8 percent and the Dow added 1.1 percent.

European stocks reversed course to end higher on Thursday, tracking the broad-based rally on Wall Street on the penultimate trading day of the year.

The pan European STOXX 600 rose 0.7 percent. The German DAX gained 1.1 percent, France's CAC 40 index advanced 1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged up 0.2 percent.

Euro Higher Against Majors

The euro climbed against its major counterparts in the New York session on Thursday, as upbeat earnings from Google parent Alphabet lifted tech shares.

RTTNews | 1小时22分钟前

Swiss Market Ends Modestly Lower

The Switzerland market stayed a bit positive in early trades on Thursday, but retreated around mid morning and then spent the rest of the day's session in negative territory, as investors stayed largely cautious, reacting to earnings and awaiting news from the trade front.

RTTNews | 4小时24分钟前

European Stocks Close Broadly Higher

European stocks closed broadly higher on Thursday despite paring most of their early gains, after the European Central Bank left its interest rate unchanged for the first time in a year. The ECB held its key interest rates steady, in line with expectations.

RTTNews | 4小时45分钟前

U.S. New Home Sales Rebound Much Less Than Expected In June

After reporting a steep drop by new home sales in the U.S. in the previous month, the Commerce Department released a report on Thursday showing a modest rebound by new home sales in the month of June. The Commerce Department said new home sales rose by 0.6 percent to an annual rate of 627,000 in June after plummeting by 11.6 percent to a rate of 623,000 in May.

RTTNews | 6小时37分钟前

U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Unexpectedly Dip To 217,000

The Labor Department released a report on Thursday unexpectedly showing another modest decrease by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended July 19th. The report said initial jobless claims edged down to 217,000, a decrease of 4,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 221,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 227,000.

RTTNews | 7小时19分钟前

ECB Leaves Rates Unchanged As Expected

The European Central Bank held its key interest rates steady on Thursday, in line with expectations, as policymakers assessed that price pressures continue to ease, but acknowledged that the economic environment remains highly uncertain mainly due to the trade tariff wars.

RTTNews | 8小时3分钟前

UK Private Sector Growth Moderates On Services Activity

UK private sector output continued to grow in July but the pace of expansion moderated as services activity lost momentum, flash survey results from S&P Global revealed on Thursday. The composite output index slid to 51.0 in July from 52.0 in June. The reading was also above the forecast of 51.9.

RTTNews | 8小时44分钟前

Bay Street Likely To Open On Mixed Note; Trade Talks, Earnings In Focus

Canadian shares are likely to open on a mixed note Thursday morning with investors focusing on trade talks between Canadian and U.S. officials, and reacting to the latest batch of economic data. The focus will also be on U.S. President Donald Trump's visit to the Federal Reserve today. Ahead of next week's policy meeting of the Fed, the visit looks significant.

RTTNews | 9小时15分钟前

EURUSD	1.17477	GBPUSD	1.35069	AUDUSD	0.65901
USDJPY	147.073	USDCAD	1.36384	USDCHF	0.79499

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Asian Shares Mostly Higher Before Year Ends