* MSCI AxJ index up 0.7%; dollar gains on risky currencies
* Biden plans broad spending programme, big U.S. jobs number
eyed
* U.S. bond yields turn steady in calmer trade
By Tom Westbrook
SINGAPORE, April 1 (Reuters) - Stocks crept higher on
Thursday following their weakest quarter in a year and vaunted
U.S. economic strength supported the dollar, as investors parsed
details of a $2 trillion government spending plan and hoped for
strong jobs data later in the week.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS recouped Wednesday losses with a 0.7% gain. The
greenback hit a three-month high against the Aussie and was near
milestone peaks on the euro and the Japanese yen. FRX/
Japan's Nikkei .N225 rose 0.8% as a survey showed big
manufacturer sentiment bouncing back to pre-pandemic levels.
Equity futures for Europe STXEc1 , London FFIc1 and the
S&P 500 ESc1 held steady just above flat into the final
trading day of the week before Good Friday.
On the heels of a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package,
President Joe Biden outlined a broad plan to re-make the world's
biggest economy including spending on roads, railways,
broadband, clean energy and semiconductor manufacture.
Benchmark ten-year U.S. Treasuries, which had sold in New
York on early details of the plan and had suffered their biggest
selloff in a dozen years last quarter, steadied on Thursday and
pared yields a fraction to 1.7568% US10YT=RR .
"We'll probably see more spending power from the stimulus
than drag from the (accompanying) taxes," said Jun Bei Liu,
portfolio manager at Tribeca Investment Partners in Sydney.
"And if anything the higher taxes probably limit future
inflationary pressure, and in a strange way might even help bond
yields to stabilise where they are," she said.
It is not clear if the plan could clear Congress, since it
has had an icy reception from Republicans, however, the breadth
of the proposed spending did help draw investors back to
technology shares on Wednesday, and the Nasdaq rose 1.5%. .N
SHIFTING SENTIMENT
U.S. markets had closed out the quarter with gains - the S&P
500 .SPX rose 5.8% and the Dow Jones .DJI 7.8% over the
three months - however the 4.1% quarterly rise in world stocks
.MIWD00000PUS was the slowest since the recovery from last
March's meltdown had begun.
This has come with growing concern about hiccups in the
vaccine rollout and a fresh wave of coronavirus infections,
particularly in Europe where on Wednesday France ordered a third
national lockdown. The euro EUR=EBS has been punished as the pandemic turns
resurgent on the continent, and was clinging on at $1.1717 in
Asia while investors awaited Friday's U.S. labour market data to
assess the growing gap in recoveries astride the Atlantic Ocean.
The consensus forecast for job creation last month is just
under 650,000 but Chris Weston, head of research at brokerage
Pepperstone in Melbourne, said recent paring of U.S. dollar
shorts shows investors are positioned for an even bigger figure.
Risk-sensitive currencies reflected that on Thursday,
although the looming Easter long weekend thinned trade. The
Australian dollar AUD=D3 fell 0.7% to $0.7535, its lowest
since December, and the yuan CNY= and kiwi dollar NZD=D3
also slipped.
Australia's fastest home-price gains in more than three
decades last month also point to some of the side effects of
ultra-easy monetary policy, possibly putting pressure on central
banks to curtail support sooner than they had planned.
Other signs of fragility in sentiment included the flop
listing of food delivery company Deliveroo ROO.L , which fell
by nearly a third on its London debut, and nerves following the
fire sale of Archegos Capital's portfolio in the United States.
Commodities stayed in a cautious mode, and crude oil nursed
overnight losses with Brent futures LCOc1 steady at $63.13 a
barrel and U.S. crude CLc1 up slightly to $59.59. O/R
Gold XAU= , which pays no income, hung on to an overnight
bounce to trade at $1,714 an ounce. Even so, it suffered its
worst quarter since late 2016 owing to the rise in U.S. yields.
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Global assets http://tmsnrt.rs/2jvdmXl
Global currencies vs. dollar http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
Emerging markets http://tmsnrt.rs/2ihRugV
MSCI All Country World Index Market Cap http://tmsnrt.rs/2EmTD6j
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