Asian shares recover footing as bonds, US markets settle
Trader Benedict Willis works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Thursday, May 7, 2015. U.S. stocks are opening mostly lower, pushing the Dow Jones industrial average into the red for the year. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
TOKYO — Asian shares rose Friday as investors took their cues from calming global bond and stock markets, shrugging off worse-than-expected Chinese trade figures.
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KEEPING SCORE: Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.4 percent to 19,367.74 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.9 percent to 27,545.51. South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.1 percent to 2,093.68 and the Shanghai Composite Index jumped 0.7 percent to 4,139.48. Australia’s S&P ASX/200 climbed 0.7 percent to 5686.70 and shares in Southeast Asia were mostly higher.
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U.S. SETTLEs: A day after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen spooked investors by suggesting prices have veered too high, the Dow rose 82.08 points, or 0.5 percent, to 17,924.06. The S&P 500 rose 7.85 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,088.00 and the Nasdaq composite index rose 25.90 points, or 0.5 percent, to 4,945.54.
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THE QUOTE: “Market valuations are indeed elevated and even stretched for the likes of the Nasdaq. The disconnect between price and fundamentals is likely to close and fast. This just means more volatility for the market,” Evan Lucas, a market strategist for IG, said in a commentary.
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BONDS: U.S. Treasurys prices rose sharply overnight, sending benchmark yields lower, a day after a flood of selling that had put pressure on stock prices as investors pondered whether yields were likely to remain high. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.19 percent from 2.25 percent late Wednesday, an unusually large move.
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CHINA TRADE: The customs administration released data showing a deteriorating trade performance in April from the year before, in dollar terms, and much worse than forecast. Exports rose just 1.6 percent and imports tumbled 17.3 percent. A sour note to end the week given China’s huge role as a driver of regional growth.
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US JOBS: Jobs data due out Friday are expected to show U.S. employers added 215,000 jobs in April and the unemployment rate ticked down to 5.4 percent. March’s employment jobs report was much weaker than Wall Street had anticipated but may be revised.
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ENERGY: U.S. oil fell 8 cents to $58.86 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It dropped $1.99, or 3.3 percent, to $58.94 per barrel on Thursday, the biggest drop in U.S. oil since April 8. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils used by U.S. refineries to make gasoline, rose 5 cents to $65.59 a barrel. It fell $2.23 to $65.54 per barrel on Thursday.
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CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 119.90 yen from 119.73 yen in the previous global trading session. The euro fell to $1.1239 from $1.1244.
