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New York City, once the epicentre of the US outbreak, has moved into a new phase of reopening, as countries around the world slowly emerge from strict lockdown measures. ©AFP Johannes EISELEStocks mostly rose Tuesday as investors continue to see the positives in the reopening of economies around the world, which is offsetting worries about a second wave of infections.

The easing of lockdown measures combined with trillions of dollars in government and central bank support remain the key drivers of the seemingly unstoppable march higher for equities.

And a pick-up in new cases in all continents is still unable to knock traders off their stride, as they bet on a V-shaped economic recovery.

“When you have high levels of liquidity, when you have a recovering economy, low inflation, low interest rates, you really have a strong foundation for equities to move higher,” Victoria Fernandez at Crossmark Global Investments, told Bloomberg TV.

“But there are so many uncertainties still out there that we think there’s going to be some volatility before we get that upside trend on a continual basis.”

Hong Kong went into the lunch break one percent higher, Tokyo added 0.9 percent and Shanghai gained 0.2 percent.

Seoul jumped 0.3 percent despite signs of a second wave of coronavirus in the capital, while Mumbai rose 0.4 percent and Singapore edged up 0.3 percent. Wellington, Taipei and Jakarta were also up.

Sydney was flat, while Manila and Jakarta dipped.

The gains follow another record for the Nasdaq on Wall Street and came as Europe pushed ahead with the relaxation of containment measures, while New York City — at one point the centre of the US outbreak — allowed workers to head back to work.

– China-US trade wobble –

“So far, infection spikes have been localised, but concerns should continue to grow about a second wave,” said AxiCorp’s Stephen Innes.

“However, with renewed widespread lockdowns the most unlikely course of action, the markets seem to be just shrugging off these concerns as the lockdown-easing narrative persists.”

There was an early scare soon after the open when top White House economics adviser Peter Navarro said the much-vaunted China-US trade pact signed in January was “over”, fanning fears of a renewed trade war and sparking an equity sell-off.

But Trump later tweeted: “The China Trade Deal is fully intact. Hopefully they will continue to live up to the terms of the Agreement!”

Relief that the world’s two economic superpowers were not on the verge of a trade war stoked higher-yielding, riskier currencies against the dollar, having initially fallen into the red, with the South Korean won up 0.4 percent and Australian dollar 0.6 percent higher.

And oil prices, which had fallen around two percent, were only slightly lower in the afternoon with support coming from demand hopes and massive output cuts by major producers.

“Trump would be very reluctant to officially walk away from the deal in an election year, given the potential impact it would have on markets,” Warren Patterson, at ING Bank NV, said. “Attention in the oil market will turn back quickly to efforts from OPEC+ to re-balance the market.”

– Key figures around 0400 GMT –

Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.9 percent at 22,642.04

Hong Kong – Hang Seng: UP 1.0 percent at 24,749.46 (break)

Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.2 percent at 2,970.30 (break)

West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.3 percent at $40.61 per barrel

Brent North Sea crude: DOWN 0.1 percent at $43.03 per barrel

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1268 from $1.1259 at 2040 GMT

Dollar/yen: UP at 107.14 yen from 106.90 yen

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2471 from $1.2465

Euro/pound: UP at 90.35 pence from 90.32 pence

New York – Dow: UP 0.6 percent at 26,024.96 (close)

London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.8 percent at 6,244.62 (close)

— Bloomberg News contributed to this story —

(AFP)

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