Nikkei gives up early gains, Hong Kong gains after China manufacturing numbers beat expectations

Published: March 31, 2020 at 12:02 a.m. ET, By Associated Press

Asian shares were mostly higher Tuesday after a rally in U.S. stocks, mostly spurred by health care companies’ announcements of developments that could aid in the coronavirus outbreak.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 NIK, -0.88% gave up early gains and was last down in morning trading. Australia’s S&P / ASX 200 XJO, -2.01% fell 0.4%, while South Korea’s Kospi 180721, +2.18% picked up 1.7%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng HSI, +1.84% was up 1.2% and the Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, +0.11% gained 0.4%. Benchmark indexes in Taiwan Y9999, +0.81% , Singapore STI, +2.69% and Indonesia JAKIDX, +2.81% gained.

“Despite some respite for markets overnight, uncertainty remains as the spread of the COVID-19 virus continues,” said Zhu Huani at Mizuho Bank, warning against too much optimism.

“Central banks and authorities continue to step up measures to support the economy.”

In Asia, the Monetary Authority of Singapore eased policy Monday, and the central bank of China has also cut a key interest rate.

Official data also showed that China’s manufacturing activity and service sector bounced back stronger than expected in March, as businesses reopened after the coronavirus shutdown.

The overnight rally on Wall Street tacked more gains onto a recent upswing for the market, which is coming off the best week for the S&P 500 in 11 years, albeit after falling into bear market territory. Optimism is budding that the worst of the selling may be approaching, but markets around the world are still wary as leaders work to nurse their economies through the pandemic. The S&P 500 remains 22.4% below its record set last month, and oil tumbled to an 18-year low.

The S&P 500 rose 3.4% Monday for its fourth gain in the last five days.

“The market wants to see everything line up, and last week everything lined up,” said Nela Richardson, investment strategist at Edward Jones, referring to the unprecedented aid from the Fed and Congress.

Now, she said, President Donald Trump also appears to be in sync with health experts about the need to restrict the economy to slow the spread of the virus. Trump on Sunday extended social-distancing guidelines, which recommend against group gatherings larger than 10, through the end of April. Earlier, he had said he wanted the economy open by Easter.

“Now that message is in line,” said Richardson. “All these things line up coming into this week, and that’s why you saw strong performance last week continuing today.”

The S&P 500 SPX, +3.35% rose 85.18 points to 2,626.65. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +3.19% gained 3.2% to 22,327.48, and the Nasdaq COMP, +3.62% gained 3.6%, to 7,774.15.

“We have to look at this rally suspiciously,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist for CFRA. He pointed to prior bear markets where stocks rallied more than 20% only to fall to new lows.

“Granted, this bear is like no other,” he said. “There are too many uncertainties out there for the market masses to have concluded that March 23 was the ultimate bottom.”

Still, the 17.4% surge for stocks since last Monday has brought the first green shoots of optimism.

Economists expect a number of weak reports on the economy to come in through the week. The lowlight will likely be Friday’s jobs report, where economists expect to see the steepest drop in the nation’s payrolls since the Great Recession.

Benchmark U.S. crude CLK20, 5.177% added $1.44 to $21.53. It fell 6.6% to $20.09 a barrel Monday, after touching its lowest price since 2002. May Brent crude BRNK20, 2.768% , the global benchmark, rose 1.5%. Oil started the year above $60 and has plunged on expectations that a weakened economy will burn less fuel. The world is awash in oil, meanwhile, as producers continue to pull more of it out of the ground.

The dollar USDJPY, 0.674% was trading at $108.50, down from $107.57 Monday.

Source: www.marketwatch.com