31 May
by Vitaliy Dadalyan
(Bloomberg) — Stocks in Asia nudged higher, with Hong Kong jumping at the open after U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday stopped short of specifying tough sanctions over China’s new national security law for Hong Kong.The dollar retreated. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng saw early gains of over 3%, while Tokyo, Seoul, Sydney and Shanghai saw more modest moves. U.S. stock futures erased earlier declines as investors weighed the violent protests in some American cities that have stoked concerns about a reacceleration in infection rates and a damper on the economic recovery. Crude oil fell.The escalation in tensions between the U.S. and China last month had threatened to derail a recovery in global equities. While the U.S. president’s speech Friday was heated in rhetoric, it lacked specifics around measures that would directly affect Beijing.Meantime, the demonstrations in the U.S. could add another layer of complexity to the American recovery.Here are some key events coming up:Australia’s central bank is expected to keep its main policy programs unchanged on Tuesday. So too is the case for Canada, which has options to add stimulus but will probably stand pat on Wednesday to allow more time to evaluate the progress of policy action.In Europe, the ECB is expected to top up its rescue program with an additional 500 billion euros of asset purchases. Anything less than an expansion at Thursday’s meeting would be a big shock, Bloomberg Economics said.The U.S. labor market report on Friday will probably show American unemployment soared to 19.6% in May, the highest since the 1930s.These are the main moves in markets:StocksFutures on the S&P 500 Index declined 0.1% as of 10:25 a.m. in Tokyo. The index climbed 0.5% on Friday.Japan’s Topix index rose 0.3%.Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 2.5%.South Korea’s Kospi index rose 1.4%.Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 0.3%.CurrenciesThe yen rose 0.1% to 107.73 per dollar.The euro bought $1.1133, up 0.3%.The offshore yuan was steady at 7.1316 per dollar.The Australian dollar climbed 0.7% to 67.15 U.S. cents.BondsThe yield on 10-year Treasuriesedged up to 0.66%.Australia’s 10-year yield was at 0.90%.CommoditiesWest Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.9% to $35.18 a barrel.Gold rose 0.1% to $1,732.49.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
