BLBG:Emerging-Market Stocks, Oil Climb as Yen Weakens to 28-Month Low
Emerging-market stocks gained for a fifth day and oil advanced before U.S. congressional and House meetings aimed at reaching a budget agreement. The Japanese yen weakened to the lowest since August 2010 on speculation the Bank of Japan will step up stimulus efforts.
The MSCI Emerging Markets (MXEF) Index jumped 0.4 percent at 8:59 a.m. in London, while Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures added 0.1 percent. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index was little changed. The S&P GSCI Index of 24 commodities rose 0.1 percent as crude climbed 0.2 percent to $91.06 a barrel in New York. The yen dropped 0.2 percent to 86.25 a dollar, while the Nikkei 225 Stock Average rounded off its biggest annual gain since 2005.
U.S. congressional leaders plan to meet with President Barack Obama today and House Republicans said they will convene Dec. 30 as lawmakers seek to avoid more than $600 billion in spending cuts and tax gains that will start in January. Industrial output in Japan declined more than economists expected in November, bolstering the case for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to push for further monetary easing.
“With U.S. President Barack Obama having reportedly cut his holiday short and returning to Washington to meet U.S. leaders for last ditch talks, there is growing optimism that a deal can be knocked before the deadline,” Stan Shamu, a market strategist at IG Markets in Melbourne, wrote in an e-mail.
The yen depreciated to 86.64 a dollar earlier, the lowest level in more than 28 months. The currency has tumbled 14 percent this year, the most among the 10 developed-market currencies tracked by Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes.
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Chua Baizhen in Singapore at bchua14@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Shelley Smith at ssmith118@bloomberg.net
