TOKYO- Asian shares and Wall Street futures nudged higher amid hopes the worst of the coronavirus in China may have passed, although prevailing uncertainty about the outbreak has kept investors wary.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.31 percent.
Chinese shares fell 0.12 percent, but investors in other equity markets looked past this decline. Shares in Hong Kong rose 0.57 percent to a three-week high.
Australian shares were up 0.52 percent, while Japan’s Nikkei stock index rose 0.6 percent.
Oil futures, which have been in a downtrend since the start of the year, rose in Asia from 13-month lows due to budding optimism about the virus and hopes that output cuts by major producers will support prices.
The yuan was little changed in onshore trade and safe-havens such as Treasuries, the yen and the Swiss franc were marginally weaker in a sign of slowly improving sentiment.
The global mood brightened after China’s senior medical adviser said on Tuesday the number of new coronavirus cases was falling in some provinces and forecast the epidemic would peak this month.
The number of new cases in Hubei, the province at the epicenter of the outbreak, was 1,068 as of Tuesday, down from a peak of over 3,000 new cases on Feb. 4, and the lowest number of new infections since Jan. 31.
Investors will likely need to see more evidence that the virus, which emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year and has spread to 24 other countries and territories, is indeed receding before they take on more risk.
Concerns that the virus will slow factory activity and consumer spending in the world’s second-largest economy have roiled global stocks and commodities, and many of these markets are still trying to regain their footing.
“Evidence suggests the positive mood will continue, and we see some coordination in markets with oil rallying, base metals up and Treasuries coming under pressure,” said Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney.
“It does appear there is increasing comfort that the virus won’t impact growth in a significant way, but I am not ready to buy risk assets yet.” — Reuters
