Asian Stocks Gain on Nasdaq Rally, Dollar Slips: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) — Asian stocks advanced Tuesday, buoyed by gains on Wall Street, as US shares extended their rally and a $16 billion sale of 20-year Treasuries lured bond buyers. The dollar extended losses.

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Technology stocks were among the outperformers in the region. A gauge of China developers gained as much as 7.6%, poised for the biggest increase since September after Bloomberg reported that regulators are drafting a list of 50 developers eligible for a range of financing. US contracts edged higher after the S&P 500 had its strongest close since August and the Nasdaq 100 hit a 22-month high.

Treasuries held their gains in Asian trading following a strong 20-year auction in the previous session. Shortly after the auction results, US 10-year yields reversed course and fell to around 4.4% Monday, pushing the dollar to an 11-week low. The greenback fell against all its Group-of-10 peers on Tuesday on bets that US rates may have peaked while the offshore yuan strengthened beyond the daily fixing for the first time since July.

The “mini” bear trend in the dollar has a little bit further to run, Richard Franulovich, head of FX strategy at Westpac Banking Corp., told Bloomberg Television. Meanwhile, the yen headed for a fourth day of gains on the back of a weaker dollar.

In China, developers’ bonds gained along with their shares as the so-called white list helped alleviate fears of further contagion in the property sector. Longfor Group Holdings Ltd.’s 2032 notes rose 4 cents Monday, on pace for its biggest gain in almost two weeks while another local developer Seazen Group Ltd. saw its shares up as much as 17% on Tuesday, the largest increase since early September.

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“Overall, we are pleased to hear that regulators are more proactive to help the sector,” Raymond Cheng, head of China and Hong Kong research at CGS-CIMB Securities, wrote in a note. “For developers with a liquidity problem, it is too early to expect them to benefit in the near future.”

More clues of recovery in China may come from Baidu Inc. as well as Kuaishou Technology that are in the pipeline to report results Tuesday. Baidu will probably report a 5.1% increase in revenue, estimates show, while Kuaishou may report little-changed earnings sequentially as improvements in content algorithms and e-commerce sales were offset by weaker live-streaming revenue.

In the artificial intelligence sector, OpenAI’s investors are still trying to return co-founder Sam Altman to a leadership role at the ChatGPT maker. Earlier, Microsoft Corp. climbed to fresh peaks after it hired Altman and Greg Brockman to lead its research team. In late US trading, Zoom Video Communications Inc. rose on better-than-expected sales, while Nvidia Corp. will report quarterly results Tuesday.

Attractive Yields

Traders have also been fixated on Treasury sales, especially after the US recently offered an unusually large premium to sell 30-year securities. Those auctions have been exerting a growing sway over stocks, underscoring how the path of interest rates is gripping markets of late. The 20-year bond auction drew yields of 4.78%, compared with the pre-sale level of 4.79%.

After a more than three-decade hiatus, the Treasury resurrected 20-year bonds in May 2020. Before Monday’s auction, it had not sold the securities during the Thanksgiving week. They’ve traded at a discount to other long-term maturities — which caused a degree of apprehension ahead of the sale.

“Treasuries offer extremely attractive yields,” according to Principal Asset Management. “And while the potential for capital appreciation might be limited in the face of an impending economic slowdown, the assurance of a steady income from Treasuries makes them a solid option for investors prioritizing stability heading into an uncertain 2024.”

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 is set to rise towards its all-time high early next year, pullback midyear and then rally back towards the highs, according to strategists at Societe Generale SA.

“The S&P 500 should be in ‘buy-the-dip’ territory, as leading indicators for profits continue to improve,” wrote Manish Kabra. “Yet, the journey to the end of the year should be far from smooth” he added, citing an economic downturn, a looming credit selloff, and ongoing quantitative tightening as hurdles traders still need to face.

Elsewhere, oil held a two-day rise amid speculation that OPEC+ may deepen production curbs when members gather this coming weekend.

Key events this week:

ECB President Christine Lagarde and German Finance Minister Christian Lindner speak, Tuesday
US existing home sales, Tuesday
FOMC issues minutes from the Nov. 1 policy meeting, Tuesday
Nvidia’s earnings, Tuesday
Canada’s update to the government’s fiscal and economic outlook, Tuesday
Eurozone consumer confidence, Wednesday
US initial jobless claims, University of Michigan consumer sentiment, durable goods, Wednesday
Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem speaks, Wednesday
Eurozone S&P Global Manufacturing & Services PMI, Thursday
Thanksgiving holiday — US markets closed — Thursday
ECB publishes account of October policy meeting, Thursday
Germany IFO business climate, Friday
US S&P Global Manufacturing PMI, Friday
Black Friday, traditional kick-off for the US holiday shopping season
ECB’s Christine Lagarde speaks, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

S&P 500 futures rose 0.1% as of 12:17 pm Tokyo time. The S&P 500 rose 0.7%
Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.2%. The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.2%
Japan’s Topix fell 0.4%
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.3%
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1%
The Shanghai Composite rose 0.4%
Euro Stoxx 50 futures rose 0.1%

Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%
The euro rose 0.2% to $1.0961
The Japanese yen rose 0.5% to 147.66 per dollar
The offshore yuan rose 0.4% to 7.1412 per dollar
The Australian dollar rose 0.4% to $0.6580

Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin rose 0.3% to $37,522.38
Ether fell 0.5% to $2,016.66

Bonds

The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined two basis points to 4.40%
Japan’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to 0.710%
Australia’s 10-year yield declined seven basis points to 4.44%

Commodities

West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.2% to $77.69 a barrel
Spot gold rose 0.7% to $1,991.14 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

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