HONG KONG- A global share rally continued in early Asian trading on Thursday and the safe haven dollar was on the back foot as markets took cheer from positive signs about the impact of the omicron variant of COVID-19 and US economic data.
Japan’s Nikkei gained 0.3 percent and MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.6 percent, a third successive session of gains after taking a jolt on Monday when fears about the new strain of coronavirus gripped markets and pushed investors to safe haven assets.
“The unpredictable path of the pandemic and its related impacts on growth and inflation continue to dominate investor risk appetite,” said David Chao global market strategist Asia Pacific at Invesco.
“The recent health data from the UK and other places around the world indicate that the worst case is unlikely: even though transmission rates are reportedly higher, this variant seems less virulent and less prone to cause serious illnesses or death.”
The risk of needing to stay in hospital for patients with the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is 40 percent to 45 percent lower than for patients with the Delta variant, according to research by London’s Imperial College published on Wednesday.
Overnight the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.74 percent, the S&P 500 gained 1.02 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.18 percent, after data showed US consumer confidence improved further in December, and the White House said it was resuming talks on a massive social spending and climate change bill with holdout senator Joe Manchin.
However, while markets on both sides of the Pacific have gained this week, MSCI’s broad Asian benchmark’s gains began from Monday’s year low, while US benchmarks are in sight of last month’s record highs. – Reuters
