SYDNEY,june 9:
Asian stocks rallied for their ninth straight day on Tuesday and oil prices jumped as the lifting of coronavirus lockdowns in many countries fed investor hopes of a relatively quick global economic recovery.Markets have been particularly encouraged by a May U.S. jobs report last week that showed a surprise fall in the unemployment rate, sending Wall Street indices surging with the Nasdaq hitting a record close on Monday. Global financial markets were battered in March as investors fretted over extent of both the short and longer term damage to the world economy from the coronavirus pandemic. But most indices are now back to pre-COVID-19 levels.MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside of Japan .MIAPJ0000 PUS rose for a ninth straight session for its longest winning streak since early 2018. It was last up 0.76% at a three-month peak.Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 jumped 2.5% while Chinese shares started on a firm footing with the blue-chip CSI300 index rising 0.4%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index climbed 1.2%.Japan’s Nikkei bucked the trend to be down 0.5%.“The good news is that this shows central banks’ effort to stabilise the market have worked,” said Tai Hui, Chief Asia Market Strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management.“The current risk rally is driven by investors’ belief that the worst of this recession is behind us, which we agree with. Yet, investors need to be mindful of the potential risks ahead.”Financial, automotive and retail-oriented and energy shares – the stocks most beaten-down since the pandemic slammed markets – have been leading world equity indices higher recently. Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow rose 1.7%, the S&P 500 gained 1.20% and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.13%.
