Asian shares consolidated their weekly gains on Friday as Sino-U.S. talks produced a lot of headlines but no conclusions, while caution ahead of U.S. payrolls and a holiday in China dampened volatility.
Asian Shares
- MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.1 percent. The index was still up 1.8 percent for the week and 13 percent for the year so far.
- Japan’s Nikkei added 0.3 percent.
- E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 edged up 0.1 percent.
- The Dow ended Thursday up 0.64 percent.
- The S&P 500 gained 0.21 percent and the Nasdaq dropped 0.05 percent.
“Share markets have run hard and fast from their December lows and are vulnerable to a short-term pullback,” said Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy at AMP Capital.
Currency
- Against a basket of currencies the dollar had bounced back to 97.287, from Wednesday’s low of 96.962.
- The euro was flat at $1.1223.
- Sterling was stalled at $1.3077.
Commodities
- In commodity markets, spot gold dipped to $1,291.61 per ounce.
- Brent oil had briefly touched $70 a barrel.
- Brent crude futures were off 23 cents at $69.17.
- U.S. crude eased 3 cents to $62.07 a barrel.
