Asian shares hovered near record highs on Monday while oil surpassed $60 a barrel on hopes a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 aid package will be passed by U.S. lawmakers as soon as this month just as coronavirus vaccines are being rolled out globally.
In a sign Europe and U.S. markets would start strong, eurostoxx futures and Germany’s DAX rose 0.7% each, while London’s FTSE futures added 0.6%. E-mini futures for the S&P 500 were up 0.4% in early Asian trading.
The mood was upbeat in Asia with all major indexes clocking gains.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.5% to 721.11, not far from an all-time high of 730.16 touched late last month.
Japan’s Nikkei jumped about 2% while Australian shares ended 0.6% higher. Chinese shares advanced with the blue-chip CSI300 index up 1.3%.
Hopes of a quicker economic revival and supply curbs by producer group OPEC and its allies pushed oil to its highest level in a year as it crossed $60 a barrel. [O/R]
Global equity markets have scaled record highs in recent days on hopes of faster economic revival led by successful vaccine rollouts and expectations of a large U.S. pandemic relief package.
-REUTERS