(Jan 28): Asian stocks gained on diversification bets after concerns over unpredictable policymaking in Washington pushed the dollar to its lowest level in almost four years. Gold climbed to a record.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.7% to set another all-time high, with a gauge of technology stocks also hitting a record. Memory and storage makers including SK Hynix Inc advanced. US equity-index futures gained as SoftBank Group Corp was in talks to invest an additional US$30 billion in OpenAI. Indonesian stocks tumbled after MSCI Inc raised concerns about their investability.
Meanwhile, the dollar pared some of its losses Wednesday, with the greenback appreciating against all its Group-of-10 peers. That came after the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index slid to its lowest since February 2022 in the US session. Asian currencies reacted to that move, sending the ringgit and the won higher. China also strengthened its yuan fixing by the most since August.
“The Trump administration is taking a calculated risk,” said Win Thin, chief economist at Bank of Nassau 1982 Ltd. “Foreign exchange typically is the leader in terms of showing market discomfort with a country’s policies and economic outlook, so this dollar weakness bears watching.”
Asian stocks have extended a three-year rally fuelled by AI-driven gains, with investors increasingly rotating into regional equities attracted by more compelling valuations and stronger growth prospects. That faces a key test this week as megacap technology companies begin reporting earnings and traders await the Federal Reserve’s policy decision Wednesday.
Tech was the main theme for stocks in Asia, with memory and storage makers gaining. That followed advances in US peers overnight and ahead of rare dual earnings calls on Thursday for Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix.
See also: World stocks primed to extend rally, yen edges lower
“The shortage in supply in memory chips will continue to be a key catalyst for Asian memory makers,” said Ken Wong, an Asian equity portfolio specialist at Eastspring Investments Hong Kong. “We probably won’t see equilibrium on supply vs demand till early next year.”
In other corners of the market, the Taiwanese dollar also strengthened against the US currency on Wednesday. The Bloomberg Asia Dollar Index climb 0.3% to its highest level since July.
Gold hit a record high above US$5,200 an ounce, extending a breakneck rally fuelled by the dollar weakness.
See also: Dollar drops while gold tops US$5,000, stocks rise
Gold has gained about 20% since the beginning of the year, smashing through US$5,000 an ounce for the first time this week. In the same period, silver has surged more than 50%.
Treasuries were a touch stronger with the yield on the 10-year falling one basis point to 4.23% ahead of Wednesday’s Fed meeting.
The central bank is projected to halt its rate-cutting cycle as a steadier jobs market restores a degree of consensus among officials after months of growing division.
With the economy still displaying exceptional strength, the Fed’s messaging is likely to emphasise a data-driven approach to future policy decisions, according to Chris Brigati at SWBC. Investors will also look for impact on the dollar.
While a weaker dollar boosts exports, the US has some US$39 trillion of debt, said Rob Kaplan, Goldman Sachs Group Inc vice chairman. When you have that much debt, stability of the currency trumps exports, Kaplan said in an interview with Bloomberg TV’s Stephen Engle in Hong Kong.
“The US is going to want to see a stable dollar and wants to see stability, and wants to be able to sell the long end of the Treasury curve,” he said. “A stable dollar helps.”
Corporate highlights:
To stay ahead of Singapore and the region’s corporate and economic trends, click here for Latest Section
- China Vanke Co won more breathing room as it prepares what would be one of the country’s biggest-ever restructurings, after holders of two yuan bonds accepted the developer’s plan to delay the bulk of those payments by a year.
- Texas Instruments Inc, the biggest maker of analogue chips, gave a strong revenue forecast for the current period, indicating that demand for industrial equipment and vehicles is beginning to rebound.
Stocks
- S&P 500 futures rose 0.2% as of 12.39pm Tokyo time
- Japan’s Topix fell 0.7%
- Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.2%
- Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 2.1%
- The Shanghai Composite rose 0.5%
- Euro Stoxx 50 futures fell 0.1%
Currencies
- The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.3%
- The euro fell 0.4% to US$1.1996
- The Japanese yen fell 0.4% to 152.80 per dollar
- The offshore yuan was little changed at 6.9397 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
- Bitcoin was little changed at US$88,960.92
- Ether fell 0.4% to US$2,999.53
Bonds
- The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined one basis point to 4.23%
- Japan’s 10-year yield declined 2.5 basis points to 2.255%
- Australia’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 4.82%
Commodities
- West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.7% to US$62.81 a barrel
- Spot gold rose 1% to US$5,230.13 an ounce
Uploaded by Chng Shear Lane
