Malay Mail Online – March 3, 2016 – TOKYO, March 3 — Index futures foreshadowed a mixed picture for Asian equities, with gains in the yen potentially overshadowing the ongoing rebound in crude oil. Australian and New Zealand bonds tracked a drop in US Treasuries.
While New Zealand’s benchmark opened higher for a fourth straight day, futures on stocks in Hong Kong signalled losses as those on Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average diverged. US equities staged a late-afternoon rally, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index ending yesterday up 0.4 per cent as oil’s three- day surge drove gains in energy producers. Yields on Australian government debt due in a decade rose to a two-week high, while the yen maintained a 0.5 per cent rebound. Gold held on to gains in the spot market.
Better-than-expected US economic data and signs China is working to regain investors’ confidence has helped ease financial markets out of turmoil mode, with global equities more than halving their 2016 losses since hitting a 2 1/2-year low three weeks ago. A private report on American payrolls fuelled Treasury losses yesterday, with the steeper-than-projected increase in workers reigniting bets on a potential interest-rate increase this year. A swathe of services-industry measures are due today and attention will start shifting to China’s National People’s Congress, which gets under way Saturday.
“The better US data flow continued to support the improvement in risk appetite in financial markets,” Sharon Zollner, a senior economist in Auckland at ANZ Bank New Zealand Ltd., said in a client note. “Global markets have broadly had a much better time of it in recent weeks as speculation rises that the early-year pessimism was overcooked, particularly regarding the US However, while a calmer assessment is very welcome, there are some fundamental issues that haven’t gone away.”
South Korea updates on consumer prices today, and Thailand reports on consumer confidence. Hong Kong posts data on retail sales. — Bloomberg