Asian shares pulled ahead on Thursday as corporate earnings and a ceasefire in northern Syria helped prop up sentiment, though the backdrop of trade and brexit uncertainties was enough to prevent a decisive shift towards riskier assets.
Asian Shares and European trades
- MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan advanced 0.3%.
- Japan’s Nikkei finishing up 0.55% after hitting a one-year high.
- Australian shares climbed 0.3%.
- Chinese shares did open higher but soon erased those gains with the blue-chip index easing 0.3%.
- On Wall Street overnight, the Dow and the Nasdaq added 0.2% each while the S&P 500 gained 0.3%.
- In early European trades, futures for the pan-region Euro Stoxx 50 were up 0.1% .
- Germany’s DAX added 0.25%.
- London’s FTSE futures were mostly flat as were U.S. stock futures.
Currency Markets
- Sterling paused at $1.2914 after rising 0.3% on Wednesday with Brexit developments in focus.
- The single currency was flat at $1.1132.
- The Japanese yen was 0.1% higher at 108.6 per dollar.
- The Australian dollar was a tad weaker at $0.6842.
- The dollar index was slightly lower at 97.452 against a basket of six major currencies.
Commodities
- In commodity markets, U.S. crude eased 38 cents to $55.59 while Brent slipped 22 cents to $60.95.
- Gold was treading water at $1,491.51 an ounce.
