(Bloomberg) — The global equity rally paused Tuesday after a strong start to the week Monday, with the notable exception of further gains in China. The dollar pared losses.
The Shanghai Composite climbed for a sixth day, bringing this month’s gain to around 13%. Stocks retreated in Japan and South Korea, and fluctuated in Australia and Hong Kong. S&P 500 futures slipped after the benchmark closed higher for a fifth session, with tech gains pushing the Nasdaq Composite to a record high. The dollar remained close to its lowest since early June, while Treasuries were little changed. The offshore yuan strengthened briefly through the 7 per dollar level for the first time since March before paring gains.
Investors have begun the week in mostly upbeat mood, shrugging off concerns about coronavirus infections sweeping across parts of the U.S. A surge in Chinese shares Monday helped push global stocks to their highest since early June, with investors putting their faith in an economic recovery powered by historic government stimulus and readying for the upcoming earnings season.
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“Investors have recognized that as bad as the economy in the U.S. is, it’s not as bad as what people thought it would look like in March and April,” said Nancy Prial, the co-chief executive officer at Essex Investment Management. “The market has started to sense we might see better than anticipated results fairly broadly across a wide spread of companies.”
Elsewhere, oil fluctuated below $41 per barrel. Gold was little changed.
Here are some key events coming up:
- The EIA crude oil inventory report comes Wednesday.
- All eyes will be on the U.S. weekly jobless claims report on Thursday.
- Singapore holds its general election on Friday.
- Rate decisions in Australia and Malaysia Tuesday.
These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
- S&P 500 futures fell 0.3% as of 1:23 p.m. in Tokyo. The S&P 500 Index increased 1.6% Monday.
- Japan’s Topix Index fell 0.7%.
- Kospi Index slid 0.5%.
- S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.7%.
- Hang Seng Index fell 0.1%.
- Shanghai Composite Index climbed 1.3%.
Currencies
- The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was flat.
- The euro rose less than 0.1% to $1.1311.
- The British pound was up less than 0.1% at $1.2496.
- The Japanese yen was flat at 107.38 per dollar.
- The offshore yuan was flat at 7.0143 per dollar.
Bonds
- The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 0.67%.
Commodities
- West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.4% to $40.5 a barrel.
- Gold was little changed at $1,784 an ounce.
