Asia stocks advance after Wall Street’s recovery continues

TOKYO: Asia stocks advanced yesterday after Wal l Street ended volatile trade in positive territory, adding to the previous session’s big gains, although lingering investor jitters helped support safe-haven currencies such as the yen.

MSCI’s broadest index of AsiaPacific shares outside Japan rose 0.8 per cent. It has fallen 3 per cent so far in December.

The Shanghai Composite Index moved up 0.35 per cent.

Australian stocks added 1 per cent and South Korea’s KOSPI climbed 0.5 per cent. Japan’s Nikkei bucked the trend and slipped 0.3 per cent, losing some steam after surging nearly 4 per cent on Thursday.

US stocks roared back to end in positive territory on Thursday, with the Dow adding 1.14 per cent, after suffering steep losses for much of the session.

The gains come a day after Wal l Street indexes posted their biggest daily percentage increases in nearly a decade following a sharp plunge at the week’s start.

However, all three US major indexes remain down more than 9 per cent for December following losses earlier in the month, when factors including concerns over the US- China trade war, slowing global growth and wariness towards the Federal Reserve’s tightening cycle took a heavy toll.

“Sel l ing pressure on US equities is beginning to dissipate, but the VIX index is still around 29 with investor risk sentiment still recovering. A renewed market slide remains a risk,” said Junichi Ishikawa, senior FX strategist at IG Securities in Tokyo. — Reuters