Asian equities rise, ignore US NFP

Asian equities start the week on a positive note

On Friday, the weak US Nonfarm Payrolls report could not quash Wall Street’s fiscal stimulus animal spirits, which were helped along by a continuing stream of strong Q4 earnings releases. The S&P 500 rose 0.39%, the Nasdaq rose 0.57%, and the Dow Jones rose 0.28%. Futures on all three indexes have risen strongly by over 0.50% today in a Superbowl slipstream.

As noted above, the break of 29,000 today has seen the Nikkei 225 rise by over 2.0%. By contrast, the Kospi has edged 0.25% lower after Kia said it was not in electric car talks with Apple. Elsewhere though, it is a sea of green.

Chinese has released news anti-monopoly today, aimed squarely at China big-tech companies. China’s markets have priced this in for now though. Shanghai Composite rising 0.90% and the CSI 300 increasing 1.0%, helped along by the PBOC adding liquidity at this morning’s repo. China’s Inflation and Trade Balance data are released on Wednesday and provide the region’s data highlight for the week.

Hong Kong is 0.75% higher as Hong Kong-listed China tech perform solidly. Taipei is up 0.60%, with Bangkok up 1.0% with Singapore climbing 0.60% and Kuala Lumpur edging 0.20% higher. In Australia, the ASX 200 is 0.80% higher, with the All Ordinaries rallying by 1.0%.

With US stimulus sentiment being the one ring to rule them all, I expect European markets to follow Asia higher. Signs of the Covid-19 caseload peaking in parts of Europe and the UK will undoubtedly help things along.

Towards the end of the week, turnover in Asian markets will plunge, with most of the region starting Lunar New Year holidays. China will be off for one week from Thursday with Taiwan beginning the day before. South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore will follow suit with Japan also away on Thursday. India is also out on Friday next Monday; US markets will also be closed for President’s Day.

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