NEW YORK, Dec. 30 (Reuters) – Asian stocks are set to end a tumultuous 2020 hovering near records on Thursday, with riskier currencies hovering near 2-1 / 2-year highs, backed by hopes that COVID-19 vaccine launches will help the world defeated the pandemic.
The optimistic mood, reflected in Wall Street’s overnight gains, shattered the “safe haven” dollar and pushed currencies such as the euro, pound sterling, the Australian dollar and the New Zealand dollar overnight to unprecedented highs. more than 2-1 / 2 years.
E-Mini S&P futures rose 0.11% to 3,728.5, while the MSCI Asia-Pacific equities gauge, with the exception of Japan, was slightly changed to 661.76, a natural breather from the high record of 661.80.
For the year, the MSCI index rose nearly 20%, surpassing a 15.5% gain in the US S&P 500.
Australian shares lost 0.23%, while the Japanese stock market closed on Thursday.
Investors looking forward to a brighter year in 2021 will look at China’s official purchasing manager index for December, which will take place on Thursday at 01:00 GMT.
Analysts expect the index to show China’s factory sector growing at a solid pace in December, as the world’s second-largest economy steadily returns from the coronavirus crisis.
However, some analysts have warned that this year’s strong gains in global stock markets could mean much less room for further appreciation in 2021.
“We would say that 80% of all the good basic news expected in 2021 is already incorporated,” data analysts at DataTrek Research said in a note, adding that it would take some “real surprises” next year for the US stock market to grow. once again 10%.
For now, however, healthy risk appetites have kept investors off the US dollar.
The struggling dollar decreased by 0.46%, to 89.59, compared to a basket of currencies, decreasing a low level since April 2018.
An aid-free dollar helped keep the euro at a 32-month high of $ 1.2298. The pound was also steady at $ 1.3611, a level last recorded in May 2018. The Australian dollar and the New Zealand dollar kept their ground at their 32-month highs of $ 0.7665 and 0. 7215 USD.
A beaten dollar also supported gold, with bullion prices rising to $ 1,894,225 an ounce.
However, oil prices have fallen, a downward trend, as year-on-year supply growth has led some traders to believe that any economic recovery in the future would be gradual, rather than rapid.
US West Texas Intermediate Oil lost 0.02% to trade at $ 48.39, well below about $ 62 in early 2020.
Treasuries changed little, with reference 10-year yields in the US at 0.9264% and two-year yields at 0.1250%.
Koh Gui Qing’s report; Edited by Richard Chang