Opening Call: The Australian share market is to open higher.
U.S. stocks reached fresh records as U.S. stimulus talks were revived. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 0.93%. The WSJ Dollar Index fell to 86.22. Oil prices dropped as OPEC delayed a meeting, sowing doubts over the extension of production cuts. Gold prices rose, aided by a weakening dollar.
Australian Market
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index rose 1.1%, recovering much of the previous day’s losses and ending a three-day losing streak.
US Market
U.S. stocks rose, giving the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index fresh records, as the optimism behind the November market rally extended into a new month.
The broad S&P index gained 1.1%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 1.3%, both hitting closing records as of 4 p.m. ET. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.6%.
Despite the tumult of 2020, the S&P 500 is up 13% for the year, while the surge in technology shares has helped the Nasdaq soar 38%.
Commodities
Gold futures bounced off a roughly five-month low to log the sharpest one-day gain in more than three weeks, buoyed by a sharp decline in the U.S. dollar.
February gold rose 2.1% to settle at $1,818.90 an ounce. That was the largest single-session dollar and percentage gain for a most-active contract since Nov. 5, according to FactSet data.
Oil Futures
U.S. benchmark oil prices fell for a third straight session, dropping 1.7% to a one-week low of $44.55 a barrel amid increasing concerns OPEC may not extend a production-cut deal by a full three months as was previously expected.
Additionally, investors are worried that renewed coronavirus restrictions in states such as Texas and California, which are top fuel-consuming states, could turn back a slow recovery in demand.
Forex
Major currencies were mixed against the US dollar in European and US trade. The Euro rose from lows near US$1.1953 to session highs near US$1.2065 at the US close. The Aussie dollar fell from highs near US73.71 cents to lows near US73.41 cents but was back near US73.70 cents at the US close. And the Japanese yen eased from near 104.18 yen per US dollar to JPY104.55 and was near JPY104.30 at the US close.
European Markets
European share markets closed higher on Tuesday. The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose by 0.7%, supported by a 3.2% lift in basic materials shares. The German Dax index also gained 0.7%. The UK FTSE index jumped 1.9% with shares of British serviced officer provider IWG up 8.9%, and Taylor Wimpey shares 7.9% higher. UK listed shares of Rio Tinto and BHP both rose 3.4%.
Asian Markets
Earlier Tuesday, China’s major stock benchmarks logged solid gains, as both official and private PMIs for November showed a widening recovery of the world’s second-largest economy. The Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.8%, while the Shenzhen Composite Index added 1.6% and the ChiNext Price Index climbed 2.5%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.9%. The Nikkei Stock Average extended early morning gains to settle 1.3% higher.
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