TOKYO (Reuters) – Asian shares climbed to the highest level Wednesday as U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s candidate called for a strong fiscal relief package to help the world’s largest economy go out from decay with pandemic.
At her confirmation hearing Tuesday, she said the benefits of a large incentive package outweigh the costs of a higher debt burden.
U.S. President Joe Biden, who will be sworn in on Wednesday, last week unveiled a proposal to launch a $ 1.9 trillion stimulus package to boost the economy and accelerate the distribution of vaccines.
“Fiscal spending is on a large scale. The Fed is trying to achieve two per cent inflation and full earnings, which are still looking distant, so it will keep interest rates low for some time and market sentiment should remain strong, ”said Yoshinori Shigemi , macro strategist at Fidelity International.
MSCI’s Asia-Pacific index outside Japan rose 0.95%, reaching an all-time high.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.0% to reach its highest peak in 2019 while Australian shares added 0.6% to reach its highest level. But Japan’s Nikkei slipped 0.45% on profit.
U.S. Nasdaq futures gained 0.4%, with Netflix shares jumping 12.6% after the bell as the pioneer reported strong growth flows in subscribers and projected it would not have to raise debt more.
The results came after all three major Wall Street indices posted hard gains Tuesday.
U.S. President Donald Trump, in a farewell speech released Tuesday, visited his legacy and wished the new administration good luck despite his clear leadership not to recognize the name of his successor.
Biden will take office Wednesday under unprecedented security measures following Jan’s attack. 6 on the Capitol.
“The move is likely to be smooth and smooth, so that’s another reason to support markets as a whole,” said Yasutada Suzuki, head of emerging markets investment at Sumitomo Mitsui Bank.
In the currency market, the dollar was on the back foot against other currencies.
The euro stood at $ 1.2148, up 0.15% and off Monday’s 1 1/2-month low of $ 1.2054, drawing support from a ZEW investor sentiment sentiment that beat the Italian forecast and government surviving with a vote of confidence.
The yen was largely unchanged at 103.81 to the dollar while the Chinese yuan ticked up about 0.1% to 6.4741 per dollar.
Oil prices have risen in the hope that Biden’s prospective stimulus will boost economic output.
U.S. crude futures rose 0.3% to $ 53.15 a barrel while Brent international revenue rose 0.3% to $ 56.09 a barrel.
Additional commentary by Jessica DiNapoli in New York, edited by Richard Pullin and Ana Nicolaci da Costa