Investors review: Asian stocks headed toward fresh historic highs; Euro was little changed 

Asian stocks headed toward fresh historic highs, with Japan’s markets coming back from New Year holidays to see solid gains in the wake of U.S. records. Oil rose, while gold slipped.

With Japanese benchmarks heading for the biggest one-day advance since May, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index is headed for a record close. U.S. benchmarks hit all-time highs Wednesday as minutes of last month’s Federal Reserve meeting showed policy makers continue to back a “gradual approach” to raising interest rates. Yields on longer-term U.S. Treasuries showed little reaction, as indeed they did for most of 2017 to prospects for Fed tightening.

The dollar built on gains from Wednesday, breaking a losing streak. West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices approached $62 a barrel, surpassing levels considered as a threshold for spurring new shale drilling — potentially another boost to capital spending that’s been on the up in major economies round the world.

Chinese stocks rose after a gauge of services industries indicated a pick-up in growth last month. Further non-manufacturing purchasing-manager indexes are due from other key economies Thursday. The global data highlight for the week is set to be Friday’s monthly U.S. jobs report, which is forecast to show that unemployment held at 4.1 percent last month.

Here are highlights of key events investors will be monitoring the rest of the week:

• Non-manufacturing PMIs are due from Germany, France, the U.K., U.S. and other countries Thursday.
• U.S. December employment data are due on Friday.
• India releases an estimate for 2018 economic growth Friday.

These are the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• Japan’s Topix index was up 2.1 percent as of 1:24 p.m. in Tokyo, with the Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbing 2.6 percent.
• Futures on the S&P 500 Index were little changed after the underlying gauge on Wednesday climbed 0.6 percent to close at a record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite Index also closed at all-time highs.
• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was little changed. South Korea’s Kospi Index fell 0.5 percent. China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.4 percent.

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed after yesterday snapping a five-day slide that was the longest losing streak since September.
• The euro was little changed at $1.2017.
• The British pound was at $1.3520.
• The Japanese yen traded at 112.65 per dollar, around the middle of its trading range of the past month.
• Australia’s dollar bought 78.34 U.S. cents, near its highest since October.

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries was at 2.46 percent after dropping about 2 basis points Wednesday.
• Australia’s 10-year government bond yields were at 2.69 percent, down about 3 basis points.

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate oil rose 0.8 percent to $62.13 a barrel.
• Gold dropped 0.4 percent to $1,307.93 an ounce.
• The Bloomberg Commodity Index was little changed after advancing to its highest since February 2017 on Wednesday.

Source: Bloomberg – Japan Leads Asian Stocks Higher After U.S. Records: Markets Wrap

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