Asian equities started strong on Thursday as a sustained recovery in China’s services sector and the prospect of additional U.S. stimulus whetted risk appetite, while the dollar pared gains.
Asian Shares
- MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside of Japan climbed 0.5%, clocking its third straight session of gains to hover near a recent 2-1/2-year high.
- Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.9%.
- Japan’s Nikkei added 1.3%.
- Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up 0.2%.
- China’s blue-chip index was 0.35% higher.
- E-mini futures for the S&P 500 were barely changed.
Currencies
- The dollar gave back some of the gains from earlier this week with its index against a basket of major currencies down 0.1%.
- The greenback was slightly higher on the safe haven Japanese yen at 106.25.
- The euro was off 0.02% to $1.1851.
Commodities
- In commodities, U.S. crude added 15 cents to $41.66.
- Brent gained 5 cents to $44.48 a barrel.
- Spot gold was slightly higher at $1,946.8 an ounce.