Asia: Most markets track Wall Street gains, bitcoin closes on US$100,000
MOST Asian markets gained on Friday after a bounce on Wall Street, while bitcoin continued its march higher to move within touching distance of the US$100,000 mark.
Rising geopolitical tensions tempered the atmosphere and pushed oil higher after Russia hit Ukraine with a new-generation intermediate-range missile and sent a warning to the West.
The gains in equities followed a retreat in most regional bourses Thursday after a forecast-topping earnings report from chip titan Nvidia still fell short of investors’ hopes and sparked worries that a tech-fuelled surge in markets may have run its course.
However, all three main indexes on Wall Street ended on a positive note with observers saying traders had dialled back their gloom over Nvidia as they digested pledges by the firm over production of its keenly anticipated Blackwell line-up.
Investors also took heart from comments by Chicago Federal Reserve chief Austan Goolsbee, who said he saw interest rates coming down more as the US central bank makes progress in bringing inflation down to its two per cent target.
He pointed out that regarding the jobs market and prices “things are getting close to where we want to settle”, adding that “it follows that we will probably need to move rates to where we think they should settle, too”.
“If we look out over the next year or so, it feels to me like rates will end up a fair bit lower than where they are today,” he said.
The remarks helped temper recent worries that the Fed will have to scale back its rate plans if US President-elect Donald Trump pushes through his promised tax cuts and import tariffs, which some warn could reignite inflation.
The gains in New York filtered through to Asia.
Tokyo climbed one per cent as the government prepares to announce a US$140 billion stimulus package to kickstart the country’s stuttering economy, while Sydney, Seoul, Singapore, Wellington, Taipei and Jakarta also rose.
Hong Kong, Shanghai and Manila slipped.
Bitcoin, meanwhile, continued its heady run higher and broke US$99,000 for the first time.
While it eased back slightly soon after, there is a broad expectation that it will soon burst through US$100,000 as investors grow increasingly hopeful that Trump will pass measures to deregulate the crypto sector.
Bets on an easier environment for digital units in a Trump White House have seen bitcoin soar more than 40 per cent since his election victory this month, while it has more than doubled since the turn of the year.
Adding to the positive vibes was news that Securities and Exchange Commission chair Gary Gensler - who oversaw a number of measures to rein in cryptocurrencies - intends to leave when Trump takes office on Jan 20, Bloomberg reported.
Oil prices edged higher on rising Ukraine worries after Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that the conflict had characteristics of a “global” war and did not rule out strikes on Western countries.
His comments came after Moscow test-fired a new missile at its neighbour, which Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky called a major ramping up of the “scale and brutality” of the war.
Both main crude contracts extended the two per cent gains seen on Thursday when natural gas prices also hit their highest level in a year. AFP
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