- Asian equities cheer US Treasury yield, greenback weakness.
- Beijing and Tokyo are the only major markets open on Good Friday.
- West versus China couldn’t derail the optimism in Asia.
- US jobs report will be the key amid a holiday mood.
Asian shares remain on the front-foot even as major bourses are off due to the Good Friday holiday. Although macro-economic details are sparse, the US Treasury yield’s weakness seems to favor traders to track Wall Street’s gains by the press time.
Wall Street benchmarks rallied by the end of Thursday wherein S&P 500 Futures refreshed record top as US 10-year Treasury yields dropped for the most in five weeks. Also favoring the US equities were strong US ISM Manufacturing PMI data and President Joe Biden’s $2.25 trillion infrastructure spending plan.
Against this backdrop, MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific outside Japan rises a meager 0.25% but Japan’s Nikkei 225 rallies to 29,800, up 1.41% intraday, by the time of writing. Also portraying the market optimism are the stocks in China where the benchmark is up over 1.5% on a day while running for weekly gains, like Nikkei 225.
Elsewhere, South Korea follows the tune of China and Japan, also cheer upbeat inflation figures at home, while rising 0.70%. Though, the rest of the key markets were off for an extended weekend.
It’s worth mentioning that S&P 500 Futures rise 0.14% intraday while the US 10-year Treasury yield remains pressured around 1.67% by the press time.
Given the lack of major data/events and holidays in the key markets, Asian equities will have a tough time if looked for momentum. However, today’s US employment figures for March will be the key to follow.
Read: US Nonfarm Payrolls March Preview: Optimism and evidence this time?
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