Asian Shares Rise as Clinton, Trump Largely Ignore Asia
October 20 2016 - 12:10AM
Dow Jones News
Asian markets were broadly higher Thursday as the third and
final U.S. presidential debate played out, and as traders awaited
policy news from the European Central Bank.
Japanese stocks rose ahead of the debate as some traders looked
for some short-term gains, said Mitsushige Akino, chief fund
manager at Ichiyoshi Asset Management. In the previous two debates,
stocks rose when Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton was seen to
prevail against Republican nominee Donald Trump, whose policies
were seen as unfriendly to Asian markets.
The heated debate only lightly addressed Asian economic and
market issues.
Japan's Nikkei was up 1%, Korea's Kospi was up 0.1% and
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.2%. This followed an overnight
rise in U.S. stocks triggered by an oil rally.
Oil prices were slightly lower in early Asia trade Thursday, but
still remain near a one-year high, thanks to a larger-than-expected
5.2-million barrel decline in U.S. crude stockpiles in the week
ended Oct. 14. Many analysts had expected an increase.
"Very good corporate earnings coming from Wall Street and crude
oil prices surged 2.6%, so that…[led] to a positive opening in Hong
Kong and across Asia," said Margaret Yang, a market analyst at CMC
Markets.
In Australia, Woodside Petroleum was up about 1% and BHP
Billiton was up 1.6%.
Australia's jobless rate fell in September from August as fewer
people were looking for work. The unemployment rate fell to a
lower-than-expected seasonally adjusted 5.6%. Economists had
expected an unemployment rate of 5.7% in September.
Meanwhile, the number of people employed fell by 9,800, compared
with an expected 15,000 rise, the Australian Bureau of Statistics
said Thursday.
The market is looking to the ECB meeting later in the global
day. The central bank is widely expected to leave its policies
unchanged, confirming it will continue to buy €80 billion ($88
billion) a month of mainly government bonds until at least March.
The market will be looking for signals about what will happen after
that point.
"We…think there will be a dovish tone from the ECB," said Frank
Benzimra, head of Asia equity strategy at Socié té Gé né rale.
Kosaku Narioka, James Glynn, Ese Erheriene and Kenan Machado
contributed to this article.
Write to Willa Plank at willa.plank@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 19, 2016 23:55 ET (03:55 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Woodside Petroleum (ASX:WPLCD)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2024 to Jun 2024
Woodside Petroleum (ASX:WPLCD)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2023 to Jun 2024