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Business News/ Market / Stock-market-news/  Global stocks, oil, gold gain on promise of stimulus
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Global stocks, oil, gold gain on promise of stimulus

Euro zone growth slowdown adds to ECB policy hopes; yen hits 2-month low versus dollar

Short-term debt markets rallied hard as investors pushed the predicted timing of a first hike far into the future. Photo: BloombergPremium
Short-term debt markets rallied hard as investors pushed the predicted timing of a first hike far into the future. Photo: Bloomberg

New York: Global equity markets rose on Friday after Janet Yellen, President Obama’s choice to lead the Federal Reserve, signaled the US central bank’s stimulative monetary policy would remain in place for some time, while the dollar rose to a two-month high against the yen.

Comments interpreted as showing there would be no cut in monetary stimulus any time soon sparked a rally on equity markets and dented the low-yielding yen, which typically falls when investors are looking to take on risk.

Yellen, currently the Fed’s vice chair, defended the US central bank’s steps to spur economic growth and called efforts to boost hiring “imperative" during a hearing on Thursday on her nomination before the US Senate Banking Committee.

“There’s a sincere expectation that monetary policy will be calibrated according to economic conditions," said Jeff Knight, head of global asset allocations at Boston-based Columbia Management, with $345 billion in assets under management.

US stocks rose, with the Dow and S&P 500 hitting intraday record highs.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 52.08 points, or 0.33%, at 15,928.30. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was up 3.54 points, or 0.20%, at 1,794.16. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 5.58 points, or 0.14%, at 3,978.32.

US Treasuries slipped as investors chose riskier assets, though the losses were modest. The benchmark 10-year US Treasury note was down 3/32, the yield at 2.7105%.

The dollar rose 0.2% to ¥100.25, having hit a high of ¥100.43 that left it the potential to target the 11 September high of ¥100.60.

The yen fell broadly, with sterling hitting a four-year high against the Japanese currency.

On Friday China announced a raft of reform plans, including accelerating capital account convertibility, but this had little impact on sentiment.

Against a basket of currencies, the dollar eased marginally to 80.959.

“The dollar only reacted very moderately as Yellen signaled continuity," said George Saravelos, currency strategist at Deutsche Bank in London.

However, he said her remarks were enough to spark a rally in riskier assets and weigh on the yen.

The Australian and New Zealand dollars, which offer higher yields than many other currencies and often gain when investor risk appetite increases, both rose. The Australian dollar was up 0.58% at $0.9370, while the New Zealand dollar rose 0.5% to $0.8319 cent.

The euro was up 0.0022% at $1.3489, below a one-week high of $1.3497 touched on Thursday.

It remains under pressure from the disparity between the US and European economies — underlined by weak euro zone GDP numbers on Thursday, which kept alive the possibility of more central bank action to stimulate growth.

The euro rose against the yen, however, hitting a two-week high of ¥135.08.

An index of world equity markets marched higher after Yellen told the confirmation hearing that efforts to boost hiring were “imperative" for promoting a strong US economic recovery.

MSCI’s all-country world stock index rose 0.5%, while the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of leading regional shares gained 0.23% to close at 1,297.34.

Japanese equities, made cheap for foreign investors by a falling yen, led the charge, jumping 1.95% to bring gains for the week to a heady 7.65%, the Nikkei index’s biggest weekly rise since December 2009.

In commodity markets, Brent crude rose above $108 a barrel, headed for its biggest weekly gain since late August on expectations the Fed would stick with its easy money policy.

Brent for December delivery was last up 0.18 cents at $108.10 a barrel, while US crude was up $0.6 at $93.82. Spot gold was at $1,287.70 an ounce, well above the week’s trough of $1,260.89. REUTERS

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Published: 15 Nov 2013, 08:29 PM IST
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