BLBG:Europe Futures, Asian Stocks Rise With Commodities as Won Gains
European stock futures, Asian shares and commodities advanced on speculation this week’s losses were overdone as central banks added stimulus and a report said officials were discussing a Spanish bailout. The South Korean won strengthened.
Euro Stoxx 50 index futures climbed 0.7 percent as of 7:46 a.m. in London as the MSCI Asia Pacific (MXAP) Index rose 0.7 percent, almost erasing its loss for the week. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures gained 0.3 percent. The S&P GSCI gauge of 24 commodities gained 0.6 percent. The won and Australian dollar appreciated against most of their major peers. Treasuries fell for the first time this week.
Asia’s stock benchmark was less than 1 percent below its highest level since May, reached when Japan unexpectedly expanded its asset-purchase program on Sept. 19. Global equity funds lured the largest weekly inflows this year after the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank announced monetary stimulus measures, according to Citigroup Inc. The Financial Times reported that Spanish and European Union officials were working on plans to trigger ECB bond purchases.
“The near-term burst of negativity has caused some jittery investors to push the sell trigger and now there are those taking advantage of this opportunity to add to their holdings,” said Jonathan Ravelas, chief market strategist at BDO Unibank Inc. “Some of the liquidity released by recent monetary easing will be plowed into emerging markets. (MXEF)”
The MSCI Emerging Markets Index increased 0.8 percent, climbing for the second time in three days. More than two shares rose for each that fell on the MSCI Asia Pacific Index as Apple Inc.’s iPhone 5 debut boosted technology shares and energy companies advanced.
New iPhone
Samsung Electronics Co. (005930), a smartphone maker that gets 9 percent of its sales from Apple, gained 1.2 percent in Seoul. Inpex Corp., Japan’s No.1 energy explorer, advanced 2 percent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.8 percent, with a gauge of volatility dropping to its lowest since July last year. South Korea’s Kospi Index gained 0.6 percent. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 0.3 percent in Tokyo after plunging the most in three weeks yesterday as reports pointed to slower output in Japan and China.
China has the tools to avert a severe downturn, Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan said in a speech today. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Narayana Kocherlakota said battling unemployment may mean keeping interest rates close to zero for four years.
“We’re getting much closer to a formal Spanish bailout and that kind of reduces some of the tail risk associated with the European outlook,” said Jonathan Cavenagh, a Singapore-based currency strategist at Westpac Banking Corp. Kocherlakota’s comments “have clearly helped sentiment as well.”
Oil, Treasuries
Oil in New York gained 0.7 percent to $93.10 a barrel, copper in London rose 0.7 percent to $8,330.25 a metric ton and soybeans climbed 0.5 percent in Chicago.
The won gained 0.4 percent to 1,119.23 per dollar after falling the most in two months yesterday. The euro rose 0.1 percent to $1.2983, and the so-called Aussie rose 0.3 percent to $1.0464.
Solomon Lew, chairman of Premier Investments, which owns Australia’s largest publicly traded group of clothes retailers, said the country needs at least 50 basis points in rate cuts before Christmas to avoid risks to employment early next year.
Benchmark 10-year yields rose two basis points to 1.79 percent, according to Bloomberg Bond Trader data. The yen headed for a weekly gain against most of its major peers as the haven currency held a three-day advance versus the euro.
The International Monetary Fund will cut economic forecasts for the global economy “by a few decimal points,” a fund official said yesterday. China’s economic slowdown may last longer than during the global financial crisis, with growth slowing for a ninth straight period to below 7 percent in the first quarter, a Chinese state researcher said.
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Chua Baizhen in Beijing at bchua14@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Gentle at ngentle2@bloomberg.net
