Asian stocks up after Wall Street record amid vaccine optimism:
On the last trading day before the holiday weekend, Wall Street’s benchmark Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 index added 1.2 per cent, finishing over 4,000 points for the first time.
At mid-morning, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index was up 0.8% to 30,083.19, while Seoul’s Kospi was up less than 0.1 per cent to 3,111.64. Singapore’s, Bangkok’s, and Jakarta’s stock markets all rose.
Despite rising infection numbers in the United States, Europe, and other countries, which have caused some policymakers to reimpose travel and industry restrictions, investors have been motivated by the dissemination of coronavirus vaccines.
The yield on a 10-year US Treasury bond, which is the difference between the auction price and the payoff at maturity, increased to 1.72 per cent on Friday, up from 1.68 per cent on Thursday.
The yield has risen sharply this year, luring money out of stocks on hopes that increased economic growth would lead to higher inflation, lowering the payout’s real value. Following the Wall Street Standard & Poor’s 500’s record-breaking day, big Asian stock markets rose on Friday.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, benchmark US crude dropped 37 cents to $61.08 a barrel in electronic trade. On Thursday, the contract increased by USD 2.29 to USD 61.45. In London, Brent crude, which is used to market foreign oils, fell 43 cents to USD 64.43 per barrel. It rose from $2.12 to USD 64.86 a barrel in the previous session.
The dollar fell to 110.58 yen from 110.63 yen on Thursday. The euro fell from USD 1.1773 to USD 1.1769.
