By Julie Zhu
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Asian shares rallied on Thursday after blockbuster results from tech darling Nvidia boosted Wall Street and a retreat in U.S. bond yields eased pressure on borrowing costs globally.
A round of soft surveys on manufacturing had also revived hopes central banks were done tightening, though that might change depending on what clues about interest rates Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell gives at an annual central bank summit in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Friday.
“Equities rallied and bond yields retreated as flash PMI data for August signalled weaker economic activity in the U.S., euro area and UK, fuelling market expectations that central banks may not have to raise rates again,” said analysts at ANZ in a note.
“This week’s Jackson Hole Symposium remains firmly in focus for markets … We expect (Powell) will err on the side of caution with respect to inflation, noting some signs of improvement but still with a long way to go.”
Investors will also be monitoring interest rate decisions and policy guidance from South Korea and Indonesia on Thursday.
Early in the Asian trading day, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.7%, also lifted by Nvidia’s bullish outlook.
The index is however down 8.1% so far this month due to the weakness in China’s economy and yuan, as well as some gloomy factory readings from Japan, which also left sentiment fragile.
U.S. stock futures, the S&P 500 e-minis, rose 0.5%.
Australian shares edged up 0.27%, while Japan’s Nikkei stock index rose 0.23%.
China’s blue-chip CSI300 index was 0.51% higher in early trade. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index opened up 0.82%.
On Wednesday, U.S. stocks ended sharply higher across the board as shares of Nvidia jumped nearly 10% in trading after the bell, hitting an all-time high after it forecast third-quarter revenue well above Wall Street targets.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.54%, the S&P 500 gained 1.10% and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.59%.
In U.S. Treasuries, the yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes reached 4.1879% compared with its U.S. close of 4.198% on Wednesday when it eased from near 16-year highs after weak business activity data from the United States and the euro zone.
The two-year yield, which rises with traders’ expectations of higher Fed fund rates, touched 4.971% compared with a U.S. close of 4.952%.
In currency markets, the dollar index dipped 0.03% in early Asia trade after hitting a two-month high of 103.4 against a basket of major currencies.
The yen recovered to 144.66 after hitting a nine-month trough of 145.34 amid talk from a former BOJ official that Japan will only intervene in the market if the currency plunges past 150 to the dollar.
U.S. crude dipped 0.3% to $78.65 a barrel. Brent crude fell to $83.01 per barrel.
Gold was slightly higher. Spot gold was traded at $1,918.89 per ounce. [GOL/]
(Editing by Lincoln Feast)
