Equities inch higher as Asia opens; yen in focus: Markets wrap

Stocks ticked higher in a subdued open to trading around Asia on Thursday as investors weighed central bank hawkishness and positioned for the end of the quarter.

Contracts for benchmarks in Japan, South Korea and Australia all registered small gains. Futures for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 rose 0.2% and 0.3%, respectively.

Asian chipmakers were under the microscope again after memory maker Micron Technology gave an upbeat forecast, indicating that an industry glut is easing even as the semiconductor maker continues to face challenges in China.

The Australian and New Zealand dollars steadied after falling more than 1% versus the greenback on Wednesday.

The yen was little changed after moving away from its weakest point in seven months as traders parsed comments from Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda. He struck a dovish tone on the short-term outlook for monetary settings while indicating it might be possible to start normalizing policy if he becomes confident in a pick-up in inflation for next year.

Ueda was speaking at a central banking forum in Portugal, where Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled the Fed may raise rates at the next two meetings after June’s pause. Their counterpart at the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, said the ECB would hike next month if current trends hold.

On Wall Street, traders took Powell’s comments in stride, with Treasury yields down and stocks fluctuating. Rates on bonds in Australia and New Zealand followed suit.

The tug of war within the S&P 500’s most-influential group dictated trading Wednesday, with a slide in chipmakers offsetting an advance in tech megacaps like Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp.

After the closing bell, Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. led gains in financial companies as the biggest lenders passed the Federal Reserve’s annual stress test, clearing the way for payouts. Micron Technology Inc. jumped on an upbeat forecast.

“Quarter-end positioning could drive volatility through the end of the week,” said Mark Hackett, chief of investment research at Nationwide. “Investors are increasingly pricing in a soft landing. A reacceleration in earnings will be required to drive the next phase of the market move.”

Swap market bets on further tightening barely budged after the Fed’s chief downplayed the odds of a recession while signaling officials could hike for two straight meetings, if needed.

Meantime, BlackRock Inc. introduced a bullish call on AI amid a rally that’s putting the Nasdaq 100 on pace for its best-ever first half of a year.

Elsewhere, oil declined Thursday after a gain in the previous session following a US government report showing nationwide stockpiles fell the most in two months. Gold edged up.

Key events this week:

• Eurozone economic confidence, consumer confidence, Thursday
• US GDP, initial jobless claims, Thursday
• Atlanta Fed President Rafael Bostic speaks, Thursday
• China manufacturing PMI, non-manufacturing PMI, balance of payments, Friday
• US personal income and spending, University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• S&P 500 futures rose 0.2% as of 9:13 a.m. Tokyo time. The S&P 500 was little changed
• Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.3%. The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.1%
• Hang Seng futures fell 0.2%
• Japan’s Topix rose 0.2%
• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.2%
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures rose 0.9%

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
• The euro was little changed at $1.0910
• The Japanese yen was little changed at 144.43 per dollar
• The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.2462 per dollar
• The Australian dollar was little changed at $0.6602

Cryptocurrencies

• Bitcoin was little changed at $30 117.46
• Ether was little changed at $1,831.03

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced one basis point to 3.72%
• Japan’s 10-year yield fell 0.5 basis point to 0.380%
• Australia’s 10-year yield was little changed at 3.87%

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.3% to $69.38 a barrel
• Spot gold was little changed