© Reuters. People wearing face masks after a coronavirus outbreak are reflected on a screen showing the Nikkei index outside a Tokyo brokerage.
By Carolyn Cohn
LONDON (Reuters) – World equities approached recent record highs and Asian equities reached a record high on Wednesday, with investors betting on a strong economic recovery next year, with optimistic weather pushing the Puerto Rican dollar. safe to its lowest level since April 2018.
Europe’s main markets expected a sixth consecutive earnings session, as AstraZeneca (NASDAQ 🙂 and the University of Oxford coronavirus vaccine became the second to be approved by Britain, helping to add up to 0.2 % at first.
A new, more transmissible variant of the virus is spreading rapidly, but European Union countries have also begun to roll out Pfizer (NYSE 🙂 and the BioNTech vaccine this week.
Wall Street was also expected to open higher, up 0.4%. U.S. stocks fell from an intraday record on Tuesday after Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell postponed voting on President Donald Trump’s request to increase COVID-19 relief checks.
The United States has also detected its first known case of the new highly infectious coronavirus strains already detected in Britain and South Africa.
The global stock index of the MSCI remained optimistic, however, with an increase of 0.2% and close to the record highs it had set on Tuesday.
The index has risen 14% this year and almost 70% from March lows, driven by trillions of dollars in global economic stimulus and expects coronavirus vaccines to reopen blocked economies.
“The prospect of faster and more widespread inoculation will be a shot of confidence for the markets as the fight against COVID-19 intensifies,” said Janet Mui, investment director at wealth manager Brewin Dolphin (OTC :).
Away from concerns about the virus, British lawmakers were expected to vote on the trade agreement between the UK and the European Union as early as Wednesday, the day before the end of the Brexit transition agreement.
The Asia-Pacific stock index MSCI, excluding Japan, rose 1.4% to a record high, led by gains in Chinese stocks and bringing its gains this year to 19%.
the stock average lost 0.45%, however, on its last trading day of 2020, after jumping to a 30-year high on Tuesday. ()
The conviction that global monetary authorities will continue to inject liquidity into the banking system to support the economy affected by the pandemic supports risky assets.
While many Republican senators in the United States remain vehemently opposed to increased relief payments, support is growing among them, including two from Georgia, who are disputing crucial disputes that will determine who will control the Senate.
In the foreign exchange markets, the dollar’s weakness continued. It fell again on Wednesday, the first day that the settlement of the negotiations will take place in 2021.
The brand reached its lowest level since April 2018, before regaining some ground. The last drop was 0.12%. The euro reached its highest value since April 2018, close to $ 1.23.
“The initiation of COVID-19 immunization campaigns in several countries, as well as additional US fiscal support, reduces the risk of a downturn for the global economy and bodes well for the overall sentiment of the financial market,” said Commonwealth analysts. Bank of Australia (OTC 🙂 on a note.
The Australian dollar rose 0.6% to $ 0.7663, a two and a half year high. The pound sterling was up 0.34% to $ 1.355. The Japanese yen also gained 0.25% to 103.28 per dollar.
Yields on 10-year German bonds () – which move inversely at price – gained 0.015 basis points. Oil prices have extended their recent rise in the hope that the stimulus and reopening of economies next year will boost demand for fuel.
US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 0.73% to $ 48.35 a barrel [O/R]. Gold remained stable at $ 1,878.5 an ounce. [GOL/]