Asia shares were flat on Thursday; uncertainty clarity on Fed

Asian shares went flat on Thursday as uncertainty over the outlook for both U.S. interest rates and the chance of global fiscal stimulus sucked the life out of markets.

Asian Shares

  • MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.2% in very light volumes.
  • Japan’s Nikkei gained 0.1%, as did Shanghai blue chips. E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 dipped 0.04%, while EUROSTOXX 50 futures eased 0.09%.
  • Wall Street had been saved by surprisingly upbeat results from retailers, which sent Target Corp surging 20% and Lowe’s Cos Inc up 10%.
  • The Dow ended Wednesday up 0.93%, while the S&P 500 rose 0.82% and the Nasdaq 0.90%.

Currency Markets

  • The dollar had already bounced overnight, and was last at 98.247 against a basket of currencies from a low of 97.948. It also reached 106.50 yen from Wednesday’s trough of 106.21.
  • The euro edged back to $1.1089 from a top of $1.1107, not helped by a gloomy economic outlook from Germany’s finance ministry

Commodities

  • In commodity markets, spot gold drifted off to $1,501.50.
  • Oil prices firmed after U.S. government data showed a drawdown in domestic crude stocks.
  • Brent crude futures rose 2 cents to $60.32, while U.S. crude gained 7 cents to $55.75 a barrel.

Source: Investing.com

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