NEW YORK, Dec. 30 (Reuters) – Asian stocks will end a tumultuous 2020 by floating near record highs on Thursday as riskier currencies crossed nearly 2-1 / 2-year highs, buoyed by hopes that the rollout of COVID- 19 vaccines will help the world beat the pandemic.
The optimistic mood, reflected in overnight profits on Wall Street, took down the ‘safe harbor’ dollar and pushed currencies such as the euro, pound sterling, Australian dollar and New Zealand dollar from one day to the next to highlights that are no more than 2-1 / 2 years.
E-Mini S&P futures were up 0.11% to 3,728.5, while the MSCI indicator for Asia-Pacific stocks excluding Japan changed little at 661.76, a hair breath from the record 661.80.
For the full year, the MSCI index is up nearly 20%, better than a 15.5% rise in the US S&P 500.
Australian equities lost 0.23% while the Japanese stock market closed on Thursday.
Investors looking forward to a better 2021 will want to keep an eye on China’s official manufacturing purchasing manager index for December, which is expected on Thursday at 1am GMT.
Analysts expect the index to boost China’s manufacturing sector at a brisk pace in December as the world’s second-largest economy is steadily recovering from the coronavirus crisis.
Still, some analysts warned that this year’s sharp rise in global stock markets could mean much less room for further appreciation in 2021.
“We would say that 80% of all the good basic news expected in 2021 has already been processed,” DataTrek Research analysts said in a note, adding that it would take some “real surprises” to enter the US stock market next year. to rise again. 10%.
For now, however, a healthy risk appetite has deterred investors from the US dollar.
The struggling dollar fell 0.46% to 89.59 against a basket of currencies, a low not seen since April 2018.
A listless dollar helped the euro hold its 32-month high of $ 1.2298. The pound was also flat at $ 1.3611, a level last seen in May 2018. The Australian dollar and New Zealand dollar also held their respective 32-month highs of $ 0.7665 and $ 0 , 7215.
A battered dollar also supported gold, with precious metal prices rising to $ 1,894,225 an ounce.
However, oil prices went against the trend and slumped somewhat as swelling year-over-year supplies led some traders to see an economic recovery gradual rather than rapid.
US West Texas Intermediate crude is scraping 0.02% to trade at $ 48.39, well below about $ 62 at the start of 2020.
Treasuries had changed little, with the US 10-year yield benchmark at 0.9264% and the two-year yield at 0.1250%.
Reporting by Koh Gui Qing; Editing by Richard Chang