From Asia to US, one-way Street for stocks

New York: The dollar slipped and tech stocks rallied further on Thursday as Democrat Joe Biden drew closer to winning the US presidency while the Bank of England became the latest central bank to say it will increase stimulus.

Tech shares in Europe jumped almost 3 per cent, extending a rally of more than 8 per cent this week. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.47 per cent, the S&P 500 gained 1.61 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.93 per cent.

European stocks hit two-week highs on strong earnings reports and after the Bank of England increased its already huge bond-buying stimulus by £150 billion ($195 billion), or about £50 billion more than expected.


MSCI’s benchmark for global equity markets rose 1.83 per cent to 589.5, while Europe’s broad FTSEurofirst 300 index added 0.94 per cent to 1,419.84. In Asia, stocks rallied 2 per cent to reach their highest since February 2018.

Chinese Blue Chips Rise 1.3 per cent

Japan’s Nikkei rose 1.7 per cent to a more than nine-month top, South Korea gained 2.4 per cent and Chinese blue chips added 1.3 per cent on hopes a Biden White House would ease up on tariffs.

The US dollar fell to two-week lows against a basket of currencies and a seven-month low against the Japanese yen as the likelihood of a Democratic blue wave in the White House and Congress slowly vanished, snuffing any large US stimulus package.

The dollar index fell 0.6 per cent, while MSCI's benchmark for global equity markets rose 1.83 per cent to 589.5. "The market's assuming that Biden wins the White House but that the Senate is not going to be in the Democrats' hands, so you don't have as big of a stimulus," said Marc Chandler, chief market strategist at Bannockburn Global Forex in New York. US Treasury yields edged higher after earlier dropping from four-month highs as a large jump in near-term supply to fund stimulus became less likely, reducing the appeal of the debt and weighing on the dollar.