GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian stocks set for slight gains after Wall Street ends higher

By Jessica DiNapoli
NEW YORK, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Asian stocks were set for
cautious gains on Friday after positive U.S. economic data and
signs of progress in stimulus talks in Washington lifted Wall
Street benchmarks.
"There will be a positive bias to the opening tone in Asian
trade," said Tom Piotrowski, market analyst at Australian broker
CommSec. "But regional investors won't necessarily hang their
hats on that outcome, the markets can move around quite
quickly."
In early Asian trade, futures for Japan's Nikkei 225 index
.JNMcm1 were up 0.3%.
Australia's S&P ASX 200 .AXJO and MSCI's gauge of stocks
across the globe .MIWD00000PUS were roughly flat. Hong Kong's
Hang Seng index futures .HSIc1 were down 0.11%.
U.S. lawmakers were still trying to hammer out a roughly $2
trillion stimulus deal late on Thursday, with U.S. House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi saying that she and Treasury Secretary Steven
Mnuchin had not spoken during the day. U.S. economic data surprised to the upside, as jobless
claims fell more than expected and existing home sales exceeded
estimates to more than a 14-year high.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 0.54%, and the
S&P 500 .SPX gained 0.52%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC bumped up 0.19%.
U.S. President Donald Trump debates Democratic challenger
Joe Biden Thursday night to try to close a gap in opinion polls
before an election 12 days away.
The United States was also on the brink of a widespread
coronavirus outbreak, with nearly two-thirds of states in a
danger zone with six reporting record one-day increases in
COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday. The dollar index ticked higher on Thursday, coming off a
seven-week low, reflecting fading hopes for a coronavirus aid
package ahead of the U.S. elections and fears about COVID-19
cases surging globally. Benchmark U.S. Treasury yields rose to four-month highs on
optimism about a stimulus deal. Oil prices also ended higher, boosted by stimulus hopes, but
did not fully recover from the prior session's losses stemming
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