Tech firms tracked another record on the Nasdaq, boosted by people staying at home or working from home during the coronavirus pandemic. ©AFP/File Olivier DOULIERY

Hong Kong (AFP) – Asian investors struggled to take the baton from their Wall Street counterparts Wednesday, though tech firms tracked another record on the Nasdaq, boosted by people staying at home.

Traders were also keeping an eye on Washington after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he would reach out to the Democrats to work on pushing through a new stimulus package for the beleaguered US economy.

While the wall of cash and central bank pledges of ultra-low interest rates for some time has been key to firing a surge across equities, global titans such as Apple, Samsung and Microsoft are miles ahead of the pack.

“The big theme right now is the unrelenting, record-breaking rally in tech stocks,” Candice Bangsund, at Fiera Capital Corp, said as the Nasdaq notched up a third straight record having rocketed a mind-boggling 80 percent from its March trough.

However, she added: “The landscape for stocks is great but there’s still, from a macro perspective, a lot of unknowns as to the progression of the virus and, of course, the implications for global growth.”

The run-up in US tech shares has been reflected in Asia and the sector was the standout in bourses across the region.

However, the gains were not enough to bring all the broader markets up.

Tokyo, Seoul, Wellington and Taipei were all higher but there were losses in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Manila and Jakarta.

Still, OANDA’s Edward Moya said: “With no chance that the Fed will be tightening over the next handful of years, investors continue to pile into stocks.”

Sydney was the best performer, though, rallying more than one percent after data showing Australia’s virus-hit economy fell into recession for the first time in three decades. Bargain-buying helped the ASX after three days of losses, though the Australian dollar was down 0.5 percent.

Traders were also keeping an eye on Capitol Hill following reports Mnuchin had called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to discuss a new rescue package, after saying the world’s top economy needed help to get it through the crisis.

“What is most important is that we deliver some relief quickly to the American workers impacted by this,” he told a congressional hearing.

However, with the two sides about a trillion dollars apart on their proposals, Mnuchin is said to favour a slimmed-down deal, leaving more contentious elements out to deal with later in the year — a move Democrats have said they will not agree to.

– Key figures around 0230 GMT –

Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.3 percent at 23,208.55 (break)

Hong Kong – Hang Seng: DOWN 0.5 percent at 25,061.62

Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.3 percent at 3,399.42

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1906 from $1.1920 at 2045 GMT

Dollar/yen: UP at 106.03 yen from 105.94 yen

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3377 from $1.3383

Euro/pound: DOWN at 88.99 pence from 89.01 pence

West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.8 percent at $43.12 per barrel

Brent North Sea crude: UP 0.8 percent at $45.96 per barrel

New York – Dow: UP 0.8 percent at 28,645.66 (close)

London – FTSE 100: DOWN 1.7 percent at 5,862.05 (close)

— Bloomberg News contributed to this story —

Disclaimer: Validity of the above story is for 7 Days from original date of publishing. Source: AFP.