INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
NEW YORK/SYDNEY: Asian stocks bounced on Tuesday on hopes the coronavirus outbreak may be peaking, though sentiment was cautious ahead of
Chinese trade data and corporate earnings as investors worried about a deep global recession.
Chinese shares started firm with the blue-chip
Australian shares were up 0.6 per cent while South Korea's KOSPI index and Japan's Nikkei each gained 1.4 per cent.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng
rose 0.2 per cent.
That left MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares excluding Japan up 0.6 per cent.
E-Mini futures for the S-P 500
were modestly higher, up 0.2 per cent.
All eyes will be on China's trade data, which is expected to show exports tumbling 14 per cent in
March from a year ago, as the coronavirus shutters businesses around the world, crippling demand and economic growth.
Indeed, some analysts
say any optimism over signs the outbreak may be peaking in hard-hit cities is quickly being offset by concerns that it may be a while before
businesses recover.
"Signs of the outbreak peaking - or at least slowing in some regions - have started to turn the talk to when
restrictions on activity can be eased," analysts at JPMorgan said in a note.
"Short of the unlikely near-term event of a vaccine or
significant herd immunity, restarting economies may be challenging," the analysts wrote.
Wall Street indexes ended mixed on Monday with the
Dow and S-P 500 falling while a 6.2 per cent gain in Amazon shares helped the Nasdaq end higher.
In Asia, an expected trade slump in China
will reinforce views that the world is headed for a global recession this year, despite an unprecedented burst of stimulus from policymakers
in the last two months to shore up growth.
Many analysts already expect China's economy, the world's second-largest, to have contracted
sharply in the March quarter for the first time since at least 1992
China reports its first-quarter gross domestic product data on April 17.
A weak report could see China boost monetary and fiscal stimulus in
a bid to reflate its economy.
"If we see greater signs that China is vigorously supporting domestic economic activity, then the global
industrial cycle will recover with great alacrity in the second half of 2020," Montreal-based BCA Research wrote in a note on Monday.
"This
will be positive for commodities, especially industrial metals, but it will hurt the U.S
dollar and push yields higher," it added.
"It would also arrest the stimulus-driven outperformance of U.S
equities, due to their low exposure to industrials, materials and financials."
Elsewhere, Britain's finance minister told colleagues the UK
economy could shrink by up to 30 per cent this quarter due to the coronavirus lockdown that has shuttered businesses.
In another sign of
worries about struggling global demand, oil prices barely reacted to a global deal to cut output by a record amount of nearly 10 per cent of
crude was up just 35 cents at $22.8, well under its January peak of $63.27.
Brent crude gained 49 cents to $32.23 a barrel.
A skittish
market helped gold prices cling to highs not seen in more than seven years at $1,715.6 an ounce.
In the United States, which has recorded
the highest number of casualties from the virus in the world, President Donald Trump said on Monday his administration was close to
completing a plan to re-open the U.S
However, some state governors have signalled that the decision on when to restart businesses lay with them.
The dollar continued to extend
losses on the back of the U.S
Federal Reserve's massive new lending programme
The greenback was a touch weaker against the Japanese yen at 107.62
The euro was up a touch at $1.0923
The risk-sensitive Australian dollar jumped 0.5 per cent to $0.6415
