By Gina Lee
Investing.com - Asian stock markets continued their rally on Wednesday morning as the U.S. Senate neared agreement on a massive stimulus package.
Tuesday’s announcement that a deal was imminent raised investor hopes that the $2 trillion package would be passed after two failed attempts.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 led the gains, rising 5.41% by 10:45 PM ET (2:45 AM GMT) despite an announcement overnight that Tokyo’s 2020 Olympic games are now postponed to 2021.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was up 2.24%. China’s Shanghai Composite was up 1.71% while the Shenzhen Component was up 2.9%.
Some investors sounded a note of caution as talks for a giant stimulus package in the U.S. spilled over into Wednesday.
“I feel very good being in cash right now because there are going to be phenomenal opportunities when the stimulus is finalized and if we look forward a month or two,” Carol Pepper, Pepper International chief executive officer, told Bloomberg.
“We still need to see a slowing of the virus cases and a peaking in the U.S., because until then we’ll have these huge relief-rally days and then we’ll get a scary day and the market will plunge down again,” she added.
The number of COVID-19 cases also continues to rise. The World Health Organisation said that there are 375,498 cases and 16,362 deaths globally as of March 24.