Asian Markets Track Global Markets Higher

Asian stock markets are trading mostly higher on Thursday, following the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight, as traders reacted positively to the dollar tumbling and bond yields moving sharply lower after news of the bond market intervention from the Bank of England. Asian Markets closed mostly lower on Wednesday.

The BoE decided to intervene in the bond market by purchasing long-dated U.K. government bonds to address dysfunction in the gilt market. The BoE also postponed the selling of bonds held under the quantitative easing program to October 31.

Traders are likely to keep a closer eye on activity in the bond and currency markets.

The Australian stock market rebounded from three-month lows to trade sharply higher on Thursday, recouping the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving well above the 6,500 level, following the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight, as mining and energy stocks rose sharply, tracking the spike in commodity prices.

This sharp move came on the back of the Bank of England launching a 65 billion pound bond-buying program to stabilize its financial markets, sending global bond yields lower.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 116.50 points or 1.80 percent to 6,578.50, after touching a high of 6,587.80 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 122.30 points or 1.84 percent to 6,782.10. Australian stocks ended modestly lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Mineral Resources is surging almost 5 percent. BHP Group and OZ Minerals are gaining almost 3 percent each, while Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals are adding almost 2 percent each.

Oil stocks are higher. Santos is gaining almost 3 percent, Beach energy is advancing more than 3 percent, Woodside Energy is adding almost 4 percent and Origin Energy is up more than 1 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is surging more than 6 percent, Appen is up more than 1 percent, Xero is gaining almost 2 percent, Zip is advancing almost 7 percent and WiseTech Global is adding more than 2 percent.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank, ANZ Banking, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac are aloo gaining more than 1 percent each.

Among gold miners, Northern Star Resources and Evolution Mining are surging more than 5 percent each, while Gold Road Resources is advancing almost 5 percent, Resolute Mining is gaining 2.5 percent and Newcrest Mining is adding more than 4 percent.

In other news, shares in Iress are plummeting almost 16 percent after the financial software company downgraded its earning guidance due to increased supplier costs.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.648 on Thursday.

The Japanese stock market rebounding from three-month lows to trade modestly higher on Thursday, recouping some of the losses in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 moving above the 26,200 mark, following the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight, as traders reacted to the Bank of England launching a 65 billion pound bond-buying program to stabilize its financial markets, sending global bond yields lower.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 26,238.32, up 64.34 points or 0.25 percent, after touching a high of 26,450.59 earlier. Japanese stocks closed sharply lower on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 2 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding almost 3 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing more than 1 percent and Toyota is flat.

In the tech space, Screen Holdings and Advantest are edging up 0.5 percent each, while Tokyo Electron is losing almost 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is losing almost 3 percent, Mizuho Financial is declining almost 2 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is up more than 1 percent.

Among the major exporters, Canon is gaining almost 2 percent and Sony is edging up 0.2 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric and Panasonic are edging down 0.2 to 0.5 percent each.

Among the other major gainers, Rakuten is surging more than 6 percent, while Yamaha, Unitika and Isetan Mitsukoshi are gaining more than 5 percent each. Pacific Metals is adding almost 5 percent, while Casio Computer and Shionogi & Co. are up more than 4 percent. Takashimaya, OKUMA, Sumitomo Metal Mining and Sumitomo Pharma are advancing almost 4 percent each, while Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Marui Group, Toho Zinc and Nikon are rising more than 3 percent each.

Conversely, there are no major losers.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 144 yen-range on Thursday.

Elsewhere in Asia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea are higher by between 1.0 and 1.2 percent each, while China, Malaysia and Taiwan and are higher by between 0.2 and 0.6 percent each. Indonesia is relatively flat.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a substantial rebound during trading on Wednesday after moving sharply lower over the past several sessions. The major averages all showed strong moves back to the upside, with the Dow and the S&P 500 bouncing off their lowest closing levels since late 2020.

The major averages pulled back off their highs of the session going into the close but held on to significant gains. The Dow surged 548.75 points or 1.9 percent to 29,683.74, the Nasdaq skyrocketed 222.13 points or 2.1 percent to 11,051.64 and the S&P 500 spiked 71.75 points or 2.0 percent to 3,719.04.

The major European markets also showed modest moves to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index edged up 0.2 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index rose 0.3 percent and the German DAX Index climbed 0.4 percent.

Crude oil prices rose sharply Wednesday after data showed a dip in U.S. crude inventories last week, and the dollar’s sharp drop also contributed to the jump in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended higher by $3.65 or 4.7 percent at $82.15 a barrel.

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