Asian Equities at Three Month High

Asian shares took Wall Street’s lead to reach three-month peaks on Wednesday as revived risk sentiment dented the U.S. dollar and sovereign bonds, though it was unclear how long this latest mood swing would last.  Much might depend on whether oil can sustain its recent rally, thus helping to underpin energy stocks and lessen fears of global deflation.

So far on Wednesday, oil prices were down only modestly with bulls seemingly hopeful that industry cuts to investment would lessen the glut of supply in the market.  Benchmark Brent crude oil was off a slim 15 cents at $57.76, following a rise of almost 6 percent on Tuesday. U.S. crude was quoted 66 cents lower at $52.39, but that compares with a low last week of $43.58.

In share markets, the Nikkei jumped 1.8 percent as banks outperformed on strong earnings from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.  MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 1.5 percent to the highest since late October. Australia’s main share index climbed 1.2 percent to a near seven-year top as bulls basked in the glow of Tuesday’s cut in domestic interest rates.

Reuters

Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.