By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Asian stocks were mostly up on Friday morning, reversing some losses from the previous Asian session. The offshore yuan was boosted by FTSE Russell’s inclusion of Chinese government bonds in its World Government Bond (WGBI) index, but gains were capped by the continuous uncertainty over the latest U.S. stimulus measures.
China’s Shanghai Composite inched down 0.03%, reversing earlier gains, by 11:20 PM ET (3:20 AM GMT) while the Shenzhen Component was up 0.34%. Although FTSE Russell’s announcement saw the yuan push higher, investors are also watching China Evergrande, which warned that it faces a potential default that could potentially rock the Chinese financial system should its application for a stock exchange listing not be approved.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was up 0.30%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 225 rose 0.62% and South Korea’s KOSPI gained 0.77%.
In Australia, the ASX 200 climbed 1.34%. The state of Victoria is looking to lift lockdown measures as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to decrease, reporting only 14 new cases over the past 24 hours on Friday.
Investor sentiment was also boosted over a potential $2.2 trillion stimulus package that could be voted on next week, as well as suggestions that House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin could resume talks over the measures. But hopes that the U.S. Congress would reach a consensus remained low as there were reportedly only small differences from the Democrats’ previous offer.
“The odds of Phase 4 stimulus are a close call … while still possible, there is a high risk that it does not happen this year. Without it, we would expect the economy to hit a major speed bump in Q4,” Jefferies (NYSE:JEF) LLC chief economist Aneta Markowska said in a note.
Data released on Thursday also showed that 870,000 Americans, more than expected, claimed unemployment during the previous week and indicating a slowdown in economic recovery, leading Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS) economists to cut their forecast for U.S. growth in the fourth quarter.
U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell also reiterated that “it’s likely that additional fiscal support will be needed,” during his testimony before the Senate on the economic response to COVID-19. But Fed Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard was more optimistic, predicting that the economy could be close to a “full recovery” by the end of the year. The risk of a disputed U.S. presidential election in November also increased with President Donald Trump’s refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power should he fail to be re-elected.
Meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 cases in Europe continue to increase, with the U.K. and France reporting a record number of cases over a 24-hour period on Thursday. The number of U.S. cases is almost at the 7 million-mark, while there are over 32 million cases globally as of September 25, according to Johns Hopkins University data.