Stocks in Asia Advance; U.S. Futures Slip: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) — Asian stocks extended a global equity rally after an emergency U.S. spending bill to combat the impact of the coronavirus added to signs of support from policy makers around the world. Treasuries edged higher and U.S. stock futures gave back some of Wednesday’s gains.

Equities gained across the region with the Asian benchmark set to advance for a fourth day. S&P 500 futures slid as California called a state of emergency due to the virus. The underlying gauge Wednesday surged more than 4% in the wake of Congress authorizing nearly $8 billion for virus prevention. The Bank of Canada joined this week’s wave of global central bank action and Australia’s finance minister on Thursday said stimulus will come very soon as speculation grew that governments will provide more help with the outbreak hitting economic growth prospects.

Treasuries nudged higher after the curve steepened on Wednesday, a sign investors see more U.S. stimulus coming. The yuan slipped after recouping all the losses since the coronavirus outbreak.

“At the moment the market takes this as credible enough, that is to say there is some recovery coming ahead as a result of the current action,” said Ben Emons, managing director of global macro strategy at Medley Global Advisors.

As risk assets recover, traders remain on edge amid a rise in virus cases around the world. The S&P 500 has surged about 6% this week, a rebound that began late Friday when the Federal Reserve pledged support. It remains almost 8% below last month’s all-time high.

Elsewhere, oil climbed amid a split between Saudi Arabia and Russia over whether deeper production cuts are required to offset the demand hit from the coronavirus epidemic.

These are the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• Japan’s index rose 1% as of 2:43 p.m. in Tokyo.
• South Korea’s Kospi climbed 1.3%.
• Hong Kong’s rose 2%.
• The added 1.9%.
• Futures on the S&P 500 Index dipped 0.5%. The underlying gauge advanced 4.2% on Wednesday.
• added 1.1%.
• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 1.1%.
• MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 1.2%.

Currencies

• The euro bought $1.1135, little changed.
• The yen rose 0.1% to 107.42 per dollar.
• The slid 0.2% to 6.9360 per dollar.

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries dropped three basis points 1.02%.
• Australia’s 10-year yield rose six basis points to 0.78%.

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.5% to $47.46 a barrel.
• Gold added 0.2% to $1,639.72 an ounce.

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