Asian stock markets are mostly higher on Wednesday following the positive cues overnight from Wall Street as the easing of coronavirus lockdown restrictions in Europe and the U.S. helped boost investor sentiment. Crude oil prices continued to rise in Asian trades amid optimism about a recovery in energy demand. The Japanese market is closed for a holiday.
The Australian market is declining after a late pullback by U.S. stocks overnight as comments by Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida that the U.S. economy may need more fiscal and monetary support offset optimism over the reopening of the economy. Banks and mining stocks are among the leading decliners.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 48.30 points or 0.89 percent to 5,358.80, after touching a low of 5354.80 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is lower by 41.80 points or 0.76 percent to 5,436.30. Australian stocks rallied on Tuesday, led by energy stocks.
Among the big four banks, Westpac, ANZ Banking, National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank are lower in a range of 1.2 percent to 1.5 percent.
In the mining space, Rio Tinto and BHP are lower by more than 1 percent each, while Fortescue Metals is down 0.2 percent.
In the oil sector, Woodside Petroleum is adding 0.6 percent and Santos is up 0.3 percent, while Oil Search is declining almost 1 percent even as crude oil prices extended gains to a fifth session overnight.
Gold miners are mixed after gold prices edged lower overnight. Newcrest Mining is rising more than 4 percent, while Evolution Mining is down 0.2 percent.
JB Hi-Fi reported a 11.3 percent increase in sales for the March quarter and a 13.9 percent increase in sales at the Good Guys stores. The electronics and appliances retailer's shares are gaining more than 3 percent.
In economic news, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said that retail sales in Australia spiked a seasonally adjusted 8.5 percent on month in March, coming in at A$30.110 billion. That beat expectations for an increase of 8.2 percent following the upwardly revised 0.6 percent gain in February.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar is lower against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday. The local unit was quoted at $0.6426, compared to $0.6446 on Tuesday.
Elsewhere in Asia, Singapore is rising more than 1 percent and South Korea is advancing almost 1 percent. New Zealand, Malaysia, Taiwan and Hong Kong are also higher. Meanwhile, Shanghai and Indonesia are lower.
The markets in Japan and Thailand are closed for the Constitution Day and Wisakha Bucha Day holidays, respectively.
On Wall Street, stocks closed higher on Tuesday, extending the gains from the previous session, reflecting strong gains by healthcare and networking stocks. A late pullback was attributed to Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida telling CNBC that the economy may need more fiscal and monetary support. The Institute for Supply Management released a report showing U.S. service sector activity contracted for the first time since December of 2009 in the month of April.
The Dow rose 133.33 points or 0.6 percent to 23,883.09, the Nasdaq jumped 98.41 points or 1.1 percent to 8,809.12 and the S&P 500 climbed 25.70 points or 0.9 percent to 2,868.44.
The major European markets also showed strong moves to the upside on Tuesday. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index shot up by 1.7 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index soared by 2.4 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively.
Crude oil futures extended gains to a fifth straight session as prices rose sharply on Tuesday amid slightly easing worries about energy demand after several countries eased shutdown restrictions. WTI crude for June gained $4.17 or 20.5 percent to close at $24.56 a barrel, the highest settlement in more than two weeks.
by RTTNews Staff Writer
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