© Reuters. People wearing protective face masks after an outbreak of the coronavirus are reflected on a screen with the Nikkei index outside a broker in Tokyo
By Carolyn Cohn
LONDON (Reuters) – World equities have moved closer to recent record highs and Asian equities reached a record high on Wednesday as investors bet on a strong economic recovery next year, with the optimistic mood pushing the safe-haven dollar to its lowest since April 2018 let rise.
The major markets in Europe were hoping for a sixth consecutive session, as AstraZeneca (NASDAQ 🙂 and Oxford University’s coronavirus vaccine were the second UK-approved, helping the addition rise early to 0.2%. has.
A new, more transmissible variant of the virus is spreading rapidly, but European Union countries have also begun to roll out Pfizer (NYSE 🙂 and BioNTech’s vaccine this week.
Wall Street would also have opened higher, with a rise of 0.4%. U.S. stocks pulled off an intraday record on Tuesday after Senate leader Mitch McConnell postponed a vote on President Donald Trump’s call to increase COVID-19 relief tests.
The United States has also detected the first known case of the new, highly contagious coronavirus strains already spotted in Britain and South Africa.
The MSCI’s global equity index continued to rise positively, but by 0.2% and within touching range of the record highs it set on Tuesday.
The index rose 14% this year and nearly 70% from its lows in March, supplemented by trillions of dollars in global economic stimulus and hoping that coronavirus vaccines will reopen the shut-down economies.
“The prospect of faster and wider vaccinations will be a boost to market confidence as the COVID-19 battle intensifies,” said Janet Mui, investment director of wealth manager Brewin Dolphin (OTC :).
Away from concerns about the virus, British lawmakers would vote on a trade deal between the UK and the European Union later on Wednesday, a day before a Brexit transitional arrangement expires.
MSCI’s benchmark for Asia-Pacific equities, excluding Japan, rose 1.4% to a record high, led by gains in Chinese equities and brought gains of 19% this year.
however, the stock average lost 0.45% on its last trading day of 2020 after jumping to a 30-year high on Tuesday. ()
The belief that global monetary authorities will continue to pump liquidity into the banking system to support the pandemic-plagued economy supports the risk assets.
Although many Republican senators in the United States are stubbornly opposed to raising emergency relief, support among them is increasing, including two from Georgia, who are participating in important races to determine who will control the Senate.
In foreign exchange markets, the dollar’s weakness continued. It dropped again on Wednesday, the first day where the settlement of trades takes place in 2021.
The hit was the lowest since April 2018 before recovering some field. It was last 0.12% lower. The euro reached its highest level since April 2018, close to $ 1.23.
“The launch of COVID – 19 vaccination campaigns in several countries as well as additional US fiscal support reduces the negative risk to the world economy and predicts good general sentiment in the financial market,” said analysts at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (OTC 🙂 in said a note. .
The Australian dollar rose 0.6% to $ 0.7663, a two-and-a-half-year high. Sterling traded 0.34% at $ 1.355. The Japanese yen also rose 0.25% to 103.28 per dollar.
German 10-year bond yields () – which are reversed in price – reached 0.015 basis points. Oil prices have expanded their recent rise on hope stimulation and reopening of economies next year will spur fuel demand.
Average US crude futures in West Texas rose 0.73% to $ 48.35 a barrel [O/R]. Gold was constant at $ 1,878.5 per ounce. [GOL/]