Asian Stocks Up, Oil Rises

Asian stocks went up, taking comfort from gains on Wall Street as Brent sweet crude rose to approximately 75 dollars. Asian stock was up after United States President, Donald Trump and European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker agreed to work toward eliminating trade barriers on industrial goods.

U.S. crude was up 0.4 per cent at 69.54 dollars a barrel.

Brent crude was 0.9 per cent higher at 74.61 per barrel dollars.

At a news conference, following a meeting between the two leaders on Wednesday, Trump said he and Juncker had agreed to work to lower industrial tariffs on both sides.

They also agreed to increase European imports of liquefied natural gas and soybeans from the United States among other measures.

The meeting helped to extend a rally in global stocks into its fourth day, as investors took heart from a rare piece of good news amid global concerns over trade.

Globally, markets also remain worried about the heated tariff dispute between the U.S. and China.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.2 per cent.

Australian shares fell 0.4 per cent and Japan’s Nikkei stock index was 0.2 per cent lower.

On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.68 per cent to 25,414.1, the S&P 500 gained 0.91 per cent to 2,846.07 and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.17 per cent to 7,932.24.

S&P 500 E-mini futures turned lower Thursday morning in Asia, falling 0.2 per cent to 2836.25.

News of the respite from trade tensions pushed U.S. Treasury yields higher, with the yield on 10-year notes touching six-week highs.

Around 0012 GMT, it was at 2.9727 per cent, compared with its U.S. close of 2.936 per cent on Wednesday.

The two-year yield, which rises with traders’ expectations of higher Fed fund rates, hit 2.6734 per cent compared with a U.S. close of 2.657 per cent.

Earlier in the week, Treasury prices had slumped along with Japanese Government bonds on speculation the Bank of Japan may soon start to taper its massive stimulus.

The BOJ is said to be considering, at next week’s rate review, changing the composition of exchange-traded funds it buys as part of its stimulus programme.

The dollar dropped 0.2 per cent against the yen to 110.79

The euro was up less than 0.1 per cent on the day at $1.1735, while the dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, fell 0.2 per cent to 94.139.

Gold moved slightly higher as the dollar eased while Spot gold was traded at $1233.01 per ounce.