(Bloomberg) — Asian equities were primed to rise in major markets on Monday after Wall Street snapped a five-day losing streak, helped along by fresh demand for big tech stocks.
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Equity futures for Australia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore all edged higher, while those in Japan fell to partly reflect a stronger yen. The S&P 500 ended Friday up 1.3%, while the Nasdaq 100 rose 1.7%, ending a sell-off that had wiped more than a trillion dollars from the US equity market.
The dollar was mixed against major currencies early Monday, after an index of greenback strength fell Friday for the first time in eight sessions. The yen held a small rally against the US currency from late last week to trade around 157 per dollar.
Australian government bond yields climbed in early trading, echoing a move in Treasuries on Friday when the US 10-year yield rose four basis points.
Demand for stocks signals a renewed appetite for risk among investors after declines in the final trading sessions of last year extended into 2025. The selling pressure has now enticed some investors back to some of the dominant themes that powered markets in 2024, including artificial intelligence.
In Asia, tech stocks will be in focus given the moves in New York trading on Friday. Taiwan-listed Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., the assembly partner to Nvidia Corp. and Apple Inc. that’s also known as Foxconn, reported better-than-expected revenue over the weekend. The results are a sign that demand for AI infrastructure remains robust.
In South Korea, a court dismissed an appeal by lawyers of Yoon Suk Yeol against an arrest warrant for the impeached president, according to a local media report Sunday.
In Asia, data due Monday includes China Caixin services and composite PMI, Thai inflation and industrial production for Vietnam. Elsewhere, Israel’s central bank will hand down an interest rate decision, while data for release includes German inflation, US factory orders and S&P Global services and composite PMI.
Fed Comments
In the US, Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook will speak at a conference on law and microeconomics at the University of Michigan. Her colleague Tom Barkin, Richmond Fed President, suggested on Friday his preference was to keep rates restrictive for longer. The comments, and data showing the US economy remains strong, underscore the challenge investors face in deciphering the path ahead for US interest rates after Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s hawkish pivot in December.
