Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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SYDNEY (Nov 8): Stocks in Asia were set for strong gains following the advance in their U.S. counterparts as investors moved past the hurdle of uncertainty presented by American midterm elections and embraced an outlook for Washington gridlock.

Futures indicated equities in Japan and Hong Kong will climb in Thursday trading after the S&P 500 Index advanced more than 2 percent.

Australian shares opened higher. Democrats winning control of the House of Representatives and Republicans holding the Senate dimmed chances that Donald Trump’s signature tax cuts will be reversed, but also reduced the chances for major fiscal initiatives that might have pushed up interest rates.

The dollar slid and Treasuries were steady. With the elections out of the way, attention turns to Thursday’s Federal Reserve decision, with investors looking for any signals on the pace of policy tightening in 2019. China trade data Thursday will be another chance to gauge the impact of the trade war after recent warnings from International Monetary Funds’s Christine Lagarde and former U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson.

“This election played out exactly like the polls were telling us, which was a reassurance,” Anne Lester, managing director and portfolio manager at JPMorgan Asset Management, told Bloomberg TV in New York.

Elsewhere, U.S. tech stocks, which absorbed the brunt of October’s sell-off, led gains as the Nasdaq 100 surged more than 3 percent. Oil was poised to gain for the first time in nine days.

And these are the main moves in markets:

Stocks

* Futures on Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.6 percent in Singapore.

* Hong Kong’s Hang Seng futures climbed 0.8 percent.

* Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index advanced 0.5 percent.

* S&P 500 futures were little changed. The S&P 500 Index rose 2.1 percent. The Nasdaq 100 surged 3.1 percent.


Currencies

* The yen was at 113.53 per dollar.

* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index slipped 0.1 percent.

* The euro traded at $1.1426.

* The British pound was steady at $1.3126.

Bonds

* The yield on 10-year Treasuries ticked higher to 3.24 percent.

Commodities

* West Texas Intermediate crude gained 0.2 percent to $61.76 a barrel, after falling for eight days.

* Gold was little changed at $1,226.67 an ounce.

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