Global stocks gained ground ahead of US payroll data that will offer investors new insight into the recovery of the world’s largest economy. European stocks opened higher, following gains in Asia and a late rally on Wall Street as hopes for an economic recovery and a potential coronavirus vaccine offset concerns over a surge of infections in several American states.
Global Stocks
- London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.8 per cent in early trading, while the regional benchmark Stoxx 600 added 1.1 per cent.
- Shares in Asia-Pacific traded around their highest levels in four months, as MSCI’s broad index of Asian shares ex-Japan gained 1.8 per cent. The bullish sentiment comes ahead of US non-farm payrolls data due to be released later on Thursday.
- Futures markets tipped the S&P 500 to open 0.6 per cent higher when trading begins later in the day, while US government bond yields were stable.
- China’s CSI 300 index of Shanghai and Shenzhen-listed stocks outperformed in Asia with a rise of 2.1 per cent.
- Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index jumped 2.7 per cent as traders returned from a public holiday and a day after Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on the Asian financial hub.
- Overnight, Wall Street’s S&P 500 closed 0.5 per cent higher as investors were boosted by improving economic data and news of a potential coronavirus vaccine from German company BioNTech.
Oil Prices
Oil prices rose. Brent crude, the international benchmark, gained 1.4 per cent to $42.20 a barrel, while US marker West Texas Intermediate rose by the same margin to just over $40.
