Shares rose in Europe and Asia on Monday and the safe-haven yen tumbled against the dollar after upbeat US jobs data, though the prospect of more stimulus to counter a weak global growth outlook kept low-risk sovereign bond yields near record lows.
Europe’s STOXX 600 index rose 0.6%, led higher by a more than 5% gain for German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp after it said it was in talks with Tata Steel about sector consolidation, Reuters reported.
Two-year German yields fell as far as minus 0.7%, close to a record in anticipation of easier policy from the European Central Bank.
A near 4% rise in Japanese shares, their biggest daily percentage gain since early February, was partly triggered by a landslide victory in Sunday’s election to parliament’s upper house by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling coalition.
“He won (the election) in a landslide and immediately announced that he would add further fiscal stimulus—that is, to continue Abenomics and try to succeed in his aim of bringing the Japanese economy back to life, as well as increasing inflation,” said Commerzbank currency strategist Thulan Nguyen, in Frankfurt. “That is causing the yen slide at the moment.”
Chinese shares rose as investors figured the inflation numbers raised the prospect of more economic stimulus—something market participants are anticipating from several major central banks around the world in coming months.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan jumped 1.9% to a one-month top.
Banks Lead the Lot
Indian shares rose nearly 2% to their highest level in nearly 11 months. The broader NSE index rose as much as 1.74%, while the benchmark BSE index gained as much as 1.83%. Both indexes hit their highest levels since Aug. 20, 2015.
Banks were among the leading gainers, with the Nifty Bank Index up 1.83%. Bank of India rose 3.2%, while ICICI Bank Ltd. advanced 3.1%.
Meanwhile, the dollar rose 0.4% against a basket of major currencies and was 1.4% against the yen, which is viewed as a safe investment in times of market turmoil.
The euro fell 0.2% to $1.10 and sterling fell 0.3% to $1.29 ahead of a Bank of England policy meeting on Thursday, at which some analysts expect the bank to cut interest rates.
Copper prices with risk appetite and nickel topped $10,000 a ton on mining suspension imposed in the Philippines over environmental concerns.
