Asian shares, sterling on a high as global risks ebb

Asian shares scaled eight-month peaks on Friday as a last-gasp Sino-U.S. trade deal and a likely major election win by Britain’s Conservative Party cleared a couple of dark clouds from the global horizon.

Asian Shares

• In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei climbed 2.4% to a 14-month top, while Shanghai blue chips advanced 1.4%.
• MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (MIAPJ0000PUS) jumped 1.5% to its highest since late April.
• E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 (ESc1) rose 0.4% to another peak, and EUROSTOXX 50 futures gained 0.9%.
• FTSE futures (FFIc1) eased 0.2%, perhaps because a Tory win had already been priced in.
• Wall Street had celebrated the trade news with record highs. The Dow (DJI) ended Thursday up 0.79%.
• The S&P 500 (SPX) gained 0.86% and the Nasdaq (IXIC) 0.73%.

Bonds

• That was bad news for bonds and yields on U.S. 10-year Treasuries shot up to 1.91%, a rise of 12 basis points in just two sessions.

Currency Markets

• The dollar fared less well elsewhere as the pound and the euro both benefited from the UK exit polls.
• The euro added 0.4% to $1.1176 (EUR=), while the dollar slipped to 96.792 (DXY) on a basket of currencies.
• The dollar also lost out to the Chinese yuan to hit an 18-week low as any trade truce would be seen as a boon for the export-heavy economy. The dollar was last at 6.9607 yuan having shed a steep 1.2% overnight.

Commodities

• The shift from safe havens left spot gold flat at $1,467.60 per ounce.
• U.S. crude (CLc1) added 31 cents to $59.49 a barrel.
• Brent crude (LCOc1) rose 42 cents to $64.62.

Source: Investing.com