Stocks in Asia-Pacific rose in Thursday morning trade following an overnight bounce on Wall Street.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan jumped 1.2% in early trade, recovering partially from two days of losses earlier in the week. The Topix index gained 1.13%. South Korea’s Kospi advanced 0.41%.
Shares in Australia edged higher as the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.21%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan traded 0.07% higher.
India’s stocks return to trade on Thursday following a holiday. Investors will watch for market reaction as the Covid situation in the country remains serious and could weigh on sentiment, with nearly 300,000 new daily infections registered on Wednesday.
Overnight stateside, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 316.01 points to 34,137.31 while the S&P 500 gained 0.93% to 4,173.42. The Nasdaq Composite rose 1.19% to 13,950.22.
Currencies and oil
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 91.103 — above levels below 91.2 seen earlier in the week.
The Japanese yen traded at 107.99 per dollar, stronger than levels above 108.4 against the greenback seen earlier in the week. The Australian dollar was at $0.7758, still lower than levels above $0.78 seen earlier this week.
Oil prices were lower in the morning of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures down 0.46% to $65.02 per barrel. U.S. crude futures shed 0.51% to $61.04 per barrel.