By Chibuike Oguh
NEW YORK, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Asian equities were poised to
track Wall Street's tech fueled rally on Tuesday that saw the
Nasdaq benchmark hit a fresh record while oil prices perked up
on Chinese demand and hopes Sino-U.S. trade tensions were
easing.
Technology stocks continued their recent rally as investors
see them as a firm beneficiary of coronavirus lockdowns, which
have fueled demand for products and services that enable people
to work from home.
"We saw some strength in tech again with semiconductors
driving the boat," said Thomas Hayes, chairman at Great Hill
Capital. "We continue to see this push between growth and tech,
between cyclical and value stocks. It's a back-and-forth thing."
Australian S&P/ASX 200 futures YAPcm1 rose 0.52%, while
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index futures .HSI HSIc1 rose 0.56%.
On Wall Street, Nvidia Corp NVDA.O was among the top
boosts to the S&P 500 and Nasdaq for the day, surging 6.7% to a
record high after analysts raised their price targets ahead of
the chipmaker's quarterly results on Wednesday.
In June, the Nasdaq became the first of the major Wall
Street indexes to recoup its coronavirus losses as several of
its largest constituents, including Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O and
Netflix Inc NFLX.O , benefited from curbs on social activity.
The Dow Jones index, however, was weighed down by losses to
financial and industrial stocks after Warren Buffett's Berkshire
Hathaway Inc BRKa.N slashed its stakes in some of the largest
U.S. banks, including Wells Fargo & Co WFC.N and JPMorgan
Chase & Co JPM.N .
"Warren Buffet trimming financials at the market bottom was
a surprise move," Hayes said.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 0.31%, the S&P
500 .SPX gained 0.27%, and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC rose
1%.
Oil prices rose on hopes of a rebound in Chinese demand
after two state-owned firms tentatively booked tankers to
transport at least 20 million barrels of U.S. crude for August
and September despite ongoing Sino-American tensions.
Crude prices were also buoyed by reports that OPEC+
producers almost fully complied in July with their global
production cut accord.
Brent crude LCOc1 settled up 57 cents, or 1.3%, to $45.87
a barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 gained
88 cents, or 2.1 %, to $42.41 a barrel.
Investors are looking ahead to Wednesday, when the Federal
Reserve releases minutes from its latest policy meeting.
Speculation is rife that the Fed will adopt an average inflation
target, which would seek to push inflation above 2% for some
time.
That view, combined with massive new debt supply, caused a
sharp increase in longer-term bond yields last week, with
30-year yields US30YT=RR rising 21 basis points as the curve
steepened.
Benchmark 10-year notes US10YT=RR last rose 6/32 in price
to yield 0.6915%, from 0.709% late on Friday, while the dollar
index =USD fell 0.215%, with the euro EUR= up 0.24% to
$1.187.
Safe haven gold closed higher after Berkshire Hathaway also
disclosed a stake in Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corp ABX.TO ,
one of the world's largest mining companies.
Spot gold XAU= added 2.1% to $1,984.13 an ounce. U.S. gold
futures GCc1 gained 2.01% to $1,975.90 an ounce.
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