Asian markets tread cautiously ahead of US stimulus, jobs
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Asian stock markets made a cautious start on Thursday following two days of rallies, as investors await the passage and details of a $2 trillion stimulus package in the United States to combat the economic fallout from the coronavirus.
Senate leaders hope to vote on the plan later on Wednesday in Washington, but it still faces criticism. The bill includes a $500 billion fund to help hard-hit industries and a comparable amount for payments up to $3,000 to millions of US families.
It cannot come soon enough, with potentially enormous weekly US initial jobless claims to appear in data due at 1230 GMT.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index rose 1.5% in early trade - its third positive start in as many sessions, but also its most muted. Japan's Nikkei .N225 fell 2.2%.
Hong Kong futures HSIc1 were 1% higher and China A50 futures SFCc1 were up 0.2%. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS rose 0.3%.
“There has been so much stimulus thrown at this,” said Jun Bei Liu, portfolio manager at Tribeca Investment Partners in Sydney.
“But the positivity related to it is really just sentiment,” she said, adding that investors were largely flying blind with so many companies withdrawing earnings guidance. Jobless figures may offer a “reality check,” she said.
In perhaps an early sign of the fragile mood, the risk-sensitive Australian dollar AUD=D3 dropped 1% and the safe-haven Japanese yen JPY= rose in morning trade. [FRX/]
US stock futures ESc1 rose 1%, following the first back-to-back session rises on Wall Street in over a month.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 2.4% and the S&P 500 .SPX 1.2%, while the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped half a percent following a Nikkei report that Apple APPL.O was weighing a delay in the launch of its 5G iPhone.