Asian shares scaled four-month peaks on Monday as investors counted on super-cheap liquidity and fiscal stimulus to sustain the global economic recovery, even as surging coronavirus cases delayed re-openings across the United States.
Asian Shares
- MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan climbed 1% to its highest since February.
- Eyes were on Chinese blue chips, which jumped 3%, on top of a 7% gain last week, to their loftiest level in five years.
- Even Japan’s Nikkei, which has lagged with a soft domestic economy, managed a rise of 1.3%.
- E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 also firmed 0.8%.
- EUROSTOXX 50 futures added 1.8% and FTSE futures 1.5%.
Currency Markets
- The dollar was a shade firmer on the yen at 107.71 on Monday.
- The euro edged up to $1.1281.
Oil Prices
- Oil prices were mixed in early trade with Brent crude futures up 19 cents at $42.99 a barrel, while U.S. crude eased 23 cents to $40.42 amid worries the surge in U.S. coronavirus cases would curb fuel demand.
Gold Prices
- Spot gold traded at $1,772 per ounce just off last week’s peak of $1,788.96.