Stocks Gain as Trade Fears Subside; Dollar Steady

Stocks in Asia followed their U.S. counterparts higher on signs that an escalation of trade tensions was beginning to ease. The dollar steadied and Treasuries were little changed.

Japan’s Topix index jumped the most since November, while U.S. equity futures built on a Monday rally that saw the S&P 500 Index post its biggest one-day jump since August 2015. The won was the best performer among Asian emerging-market currencies as Kim Jong Un was said to be making an unannounced visit to Beijing, his first known trip outside North Korea since taking power in 2011. The yen was lower as risk-on sentiment returned. German bund yields ticked higher and the euro was little changed.

The resurgence in risk appetite emerged as the Trump administration was said to be urging China to lower tariffs on cars and open its market to U.S. financial services as part of talks to resolve a rise in trade tensions. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and his Chinese counterpart have been discussing the trade deficit between the two countries and were committed to finding a mutually agreeable way to reduce the gap and help China avoid tariffs on $50 billion of exports to the U.S.

While global equities recovered losses sustained on Friday, the MSCI All Country World Index remains about 8 percent lower than its record high reached in January and Japan’s Topix is still about 10 percent below a January high despite Tuesday’s almost-3 percent rally.

“Our base case is that there won’t be an all out trade war,” Craig MacDonald, Aberdeen Standard Investments’ Global Head of Fixed Income, said in a phone interview. “It’s a way of applying pressure to get some wins by Trump.” Still, it will lead to more volatility, Macdonald added. “Our sense is that they will get some wins rather than all out war, but it’s not something you can just dismiss. The tail risk is higher.”

Elsewhere, the yield on India’s benchmark 10-year bond fell as the government surprised the market by reducing the size of its borrowing. China’s onshore-traded yuan headed toward the strongest close since devaluation in August 2015 as the greenback’s decline tested China’s appetite for currency strength.

Here’s a list of of the main events coming up this week:

U.S. personal income and spending data for February are due to be released on Thursday.

The big four euro-area economies are due to release March CPI readings.

The U.S. Treasury will probably auction about $294 billion of bills and notes this week, its largest slate of supply ever.

Terminal users can read more in our markets live blog.

And these are the main moves in markets:

Stocks

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index advanced 1.5 percent as of 3:09 p.m. Tokyo time.

Topix index climbed 2.7 percent, the most since Nov. 10.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.9 percent.

Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.6 percent.

Kospi index rose 0.6 percent.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index increased 0.7 percent.

Futures on the S&P 500 Index rose 0.4 percent.

Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was flat.

The Japanese yen fell 0.2 percent to 105.62 per dollar.

The euro rose less than 0.1 percent to $1.2453.

The won jumped 1 percent to 1,070.20 per dollar.

Bonds

The yield on 10-year Treasuries was unchanged at 2.85 percent.

Japan’s 10-year yield climbed four basis points to 0.065 percent.

Australia’s 10-year yield fell almost one basis point to 2.65 percent.

Commodities

West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.2 percent to $65.68 a barrel.

Gold traded at $1,353.72 an ounce.

LME copper gained 1.3 percent to $6,687.50 per metric ton.

Source: Bloomberg