- Asian stocks remain mixed as pandemic fears coexist the recovery in oil prices.
- Hong Kong intervened for the third day, China’s growth likely to be disappointing.
- Trump warns Iran while pushing further for economic restart.
- US Jobless Claims, PMIs decorate the economic calendar, House votes on $484 billion aid package.
Shares on Asia-Pacific bourses trim the early-day gains, while some marking losses, during the pre-Europe session on Thursday. The catalysts aren’t new to the world amid a light economic calendar. Though, US President Donald Trump’s warning to Iran, as well as extension of the previous short-covering, might have offered a second-day recovery in the oil prices. Bloomberg cites Hong Kong authorities intervened for the third day, with the total selling of $1 billion, whereas Reuters anticipate the downbeat performance of China despite the latest re-open.
That said, MSCI’s Asia-Pacific gauge, ex-Japan, registers 0.45% gains while Japan’s NIKKEI slips from the early-day high of 13,390 to 13,370, up 1.14%, by the press time. Further, Hong Kong’s HANG SENG follows the footsteps of Japan’s NIKKEI while stepping back from 24,095 to 24,000 whereas Chinese equities linger below 0.50%.
South Korea’s KOSPI and Indonesia’s IDX Composite are gaining over 1.0% amid calls of further stimulus while Australia’s ASX 200 fails to justify upbeat prints of preliminary Aussie trade figures for March.
It should also be noted that Indian equities are close to 1.0% gains while the US stock futures are mildly in gains after the initial drop during early-Asia. Additionally, the US 10-year Treasury yields fail to hold onto the previous day’s recovery gains while declining back to 0.61%.
Looking forward, a busy economic docket in the US will join the House voting on the $484 billion bipartisan bill that will help small businesses to counter the pandemic. Meanwhile, virus updates shouldn’t be ignored while keeping eyes on the US catalysts if one has to be on the positive side.
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