BLBG:Commodities Gain With U.S. Stock Futures as Aussie Strengthens
Commodities climbed, rebounding from the biggest drop since November, and U.S. stock index futures advanced. The Australian dollar and New Zealand’s kiwi rose with Asian currencies, while stocks pared losses.
The Standard & Poor’s GSCI Index of 24 raw materials increased 0.4 percent at 2:28 p.m. in Tokyo, after tumbling 1.6 percent yesterday. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 0.2 percent following the gauge’s two-day, 1.9 percent, slump. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index (MXAP) lost 0.1 percent, trimming a 0.6 percent drop. The Australian dollar gained 0.6 percent and New Zealand’s currency added 0.4 percent. Singapore’s dollar and Thailand’s baht rose at least 0.2 percent.
Singapore’s economy expanded more than initially estimated last quarter, adding to evidence of a recovery in Asia. Glenn Stevens, governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, said recent interest-rate reductions are working. The S&P GSCI gauge, which touched a one-month low yesterday, pared a third weekly drop that’s the longest losing run since November.
“We saw a bit of a rebound off that dramatic fall,” said Jeremy Friesen, a commodity strategist at Societe Generale SA in Hong Kong.“With the lack of any significant news we’re seeing a bit of squaring positions. It’s a dead-cat bounce.”
Commodities Rally
Industrial metals rose, paced by a 1.7 percent gain in nickel. Copper climbed 0.7 percent to $7,916.25 a metric ton. Platinum led a rebound in precious metals, adding 0.9 percent to $1,629.50 an ounce. Palladium advanced 0.9 percent, gold increased 0.5 percent and silver gained 0.7 percent.
Oil in New York rebounded 0.3 percent to $93.16 a barrel while London’s Brent climbed 0.5 percent to $114.08 a barrel. Gasoline futures added 0.6 percent. Soybeans increased 1.2 percent and wheat advanced 0.3 percent.
U.S. stock-index futures rose, indicating the gauge may rally from two-day drop. Shares of Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), the largest personal-computer maker, increased in extended trading after the company forecast fiscal second-quarter profit that exceeded analysts’ estimates.
The MSCI All-Country World Index of equities is still set for a third week of declines, the longest slump since May. China’s government told local authorities to curb real-estate speculation, euro-area services and manufacturing shrank in February and concern grew that the U.S. may curtail stimulus. Italy’s parliamentary election starts this weekend after data showed the euro-area’s economy contracted more than forecast.
“The market got a little too far, too fast,” Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Philadelphia-based Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, which oversees $55 billion, said on Bloomberg Television’s “First Up” with Susan Li. “But at the same time improving economic fundamentals over the course of 2013 and a profit picture that came through earnings looking a little better than what was expected all bode well for stock prices to continue to advance.”
Asian Shares
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 0.3 percent, erasing a 1.2 percent decline, while South Korea’s Kospi Index and the Shanghai Composite Index swung from gains to losses. Tosoh Corp. surged 4.3 percent after the Nikkei newspaper reported that the company developed materials that prevent lithium ion batteries from catching fire.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index headed for the biggest advance since July, after falling the most in nine months yesterday. Sims Metal Management Ltd., the world’s largest scrap metal recycler, jumped 4.8 percent as earnings beat estimates.
Australia’s dollar climbed to $1.0312. The RBA’s Stevens endorsed the current level of rates today and said he’d need to be confident the currency is “seriously overvalued” before considering intervention to weaken it. New Zealand’s currency advanced to 83.79 U.S. cents after a report showed credit card spending rose for a third-straight month in January.
Yen Weakens
The yen weakened against all its major peers as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe prepared to meet U.S. President Barack Obama. It fell 0.2 percent to 93.29. The euro gained 0.2 percent to $1.3211 ahead of German economic data forecast to show business sentiment rose to an eight-month high.
The Bloomberg-JPMorgan Asia Dollar Index, which tracks the region’s 10 most-used currencies excluding the yen, added 0.2 percent. Singapore’s dollar strengthened 0.3 percent to S$1.2384 per dollar as data showed the economy expanded more than initially estimated last quarter after a smaller contraction in manufacturing.
Thailand’s baht advanced 0.2 percent to 29.82 per dollar on speculation accelerating growth will attract investment to Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy. Gross domestic product rose a record 18.9 percent last quarter, taking 2012’s rate to 6.4 percent, official data showed Feb. 18.
To contact the reporter on this story: Glenys Sim in Singapore at gsim4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net
