SINGAPORE — Stocks across Asia-Pacific rose on Tuesday, after Wall Street rallied on optimism that the omicron variant risk might not be as bad as feared.
Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.25%, while the Topix was up 0.34%. Over in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.44%.
South Korea's Kospi, however, edged down 0.17%.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was marginally up.
White House Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci had said that the initial data on the omicron variant was "encouraging," though he cautioned that more information was needed to fully understand it.
Stocks on Wall Street jumped on that optimism, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average soaring nearly 650 points — erasing its losses from the previous week. The Nasdaq Composite climbed out of negative territory and ended 0.9% higher to 15,225.15. The S&P 500 rose 1.1% to 4,591.67.
Oil prices also spiked almost 5% on Monday as Covid fears eased. On Tuesday during Asia hours, U.S. crude rose 0.35% to $69.74 per barrel.
Over in Asia-Pacific, economic data ahead include the release of Australia's rate decision in the morning.
Meanwhile, China's central bank announced after market hours on Monday that it would cut the reserve requirement ratio, or the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves, for the second time this year. It will release 1.2 trillion yuan ($282 billion) to boost slowing growth amid the pandemic.
"Another bonus to the improvement in risk sentiment overnight was news of policy easing coming from China," said Rodrigo Catril, senior FX strategist at National Australia Bank.
"Perhaps more important than the RRR announcement, the PBOC decision was closely followed by a statement from the communist party central committee vowing to stabilize the economy in 2022, signalling an easing of some property curbs," he wrote. China's real estate sector has been hit by the government's moves to rein in debt.
Evergrande shares on Monday slumped to a record low after it said it cannot guarantee it has sufficient funds for its repayment obligations, and moved toward a plan to restructure its offshore debt.
Currencies
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 96.328 — continuing its ascent from levels above 96.1 in previous sessions.
The Japanese yen traded at 113.44 per dollar, continuing to weaken since yesterday. The Australian dollar was at $0.7042, as it strengthened from the $0.701 level.
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December 07, 2021 at 06:43AM
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Asia-Pacific stocks mostly rise after Wall Street rallies on omicron optimism - CNBC
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