Asian stocks follow Wall Street gains amid global policymakers’ fight against coronavirus

• MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares (ex-Japan) rises for the fourth straight day.
• China anticipates strong economic rebound after coronavirus, South Korean diplomat calls for global policy coordination.
• Increase in the odds of Joe Biden’s candidature for the US President post, BOC’s rate cut keep equities positive.

With the global policymakers actively fighting the negative implications of the coronavirus (COVID-19), share traders in Asia have been cautiously optimistic so far during the current week. That said, the MSCI’s gauge of Asia-Pacific shares’ performance (outside Japan) mark 1.0% gains while heading into the European open on Thursday.

Wall Street benchmarks cheered upbeat performance of the US economics, while paying a little heed to the virus-related fears, by rising nearly 4.0% each on Wednesday. Also supporting the US equities were increasing odds of the ex-Vice President Joe Biden’s nomination for the Presidential elections. “Biden is considered less likely to raise taxes and impose new regulations than rival Bernie Sanders,” said Reuters.

Japan’s NIKKEI initially welcomed risk recovery but has been trading a bit off recently after Bloomberg shared the news that the BOJ is likely to downgrade its economic assessment in the upcoming meeting on March 18/19.

Stocks in China mark near to 2.0% gains by the press time as comments from Chinese envoy to Canada helped build positive trade sentiment amid hopes of further stimulus by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC). Further, market players in India and South Korea are on the front foot while those in Indonesia mark mild losses amid probes over the Asian country’s status concerning the deadly disease.

Further, the US 10-year treasury yields rise 1.021% but S&P 500 Futures drop 0.40% to 3,102 by the time of writing.