(Reuters) – Asian stock markets rose on Tuesday after a record day on Wall Street, while bitcoin stopped breathing after an overnight approval from Tesla Inc. increased cryptocurrency by 20%.
Oil also hit 13-month highs, helped by growing optimism about a return to fuel demand ，
However, in a sign that positive sentiment could be exhausted in European trading, eurostoxx futures fell 0.05%, London futures with FTSE fell 0.12% and E-mini futures for The S&P 500 was flat.
Back in Asia, the broadest MSCI index of Asia-Pacific equities outside Japan rose 0.37% to 722.95, after rising to 730.16 at the end of last month.
Earnings were driven by Chinese chips, which rose 1.67%, while the Hong Kong benchmark rose 0.51% and the Korean benchmark rose 0.27%, with chip giants benefiting of bitcoin enthusiasm.
Chief Economist Iris Pang for Greater China at ING said the strong performance of Chinese markets was the result of investors buying before the Chinese New Year break, anticipating that prices will be higher after the holidays.
Chinese stock exchanges are closed for a week on Thursday.
The Japanese Nikkei rose 0.27%.
Tuesday’s earnings in Asia equated to so-called rebate trading around the world, in which global markets auctioned stocks, oil and gold, while US Treasury yields remained at a maximum of 11 months.
“The reflection behind the US fiscal stimulus and positive news about vaccines remain the main topic for markets,” wrote strategies from National Australia Bank.
Inflation is expected to rise as governments and central banks continue massive spending and light money policies until officials are confident their economies will recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
Wall Street hit all-time highs on Monday, as the Nasdaq Composite added nearly 1%, and the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average gained about 0.75%.
In the more volatile cryptocurrency markets, bitcoin first traded at $ 47,000, a 20% increase, before fluctuating slightly below that level.
Tesla Inc. said overnight that it has invested about $ 1.5 billion in virtual currency and expects to accept it as payment for its cars in the future.
Justin d’Anethan, sales manager at digital asset company Diginex, said most of the sales pressure in Asia has been absorbed.
“This morning, after more than $ 1.2 billion in leveraged shorts were liquidated, regular crypto sellers will probably think twice before tossing their coins,” d’Anethan said.
Oil prices continued to rise on Tuesday to a 13-month high.
Brent rose 45 cents, or 0.74%, US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $ 58.39 a barrel, up 43 cents, also 0.74%.
“There is a feeling that the lack of oil supply is disappearing faster than anyone thought possible,” said Phil Flynn, a senior analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago. “There seems to be a paradigm shift in the market.”
Spot gold rose 0.37% to $ 1,837 an ounce a week, as expectations of a large package of US economic stimulus strengthened its appeal to cover inflation.
Such expectations hit the dollar index, which fell back on Tuesday, after falling at the end of last week on the basis of a weaker-than-expected job ratio. It was last reduced 0.25% to 90,728.
Report by David Henry in New York; and Alun John in Hong Kong Edited by Lisa Shumaker, Gerry Doyle and Raju Gopalakrishnan