Market News

Asian stocks rose for a fourth day, after the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index closed near a record, amid optimism about U.S. earnings and economic data before a Federal Reserve policy announcement.

The U.S. Dollar firmed versus the common currency Euro, stabilizing after the greenback edged lower following the release of unexpectedly disappointing economic reports which lowered the yields on U.S. Treasuries.

U.S. data on Monday showed uneven growth in the U.S. Contracts to purchase pre-owned homes, indicating that a bounce-back in the housing sector will not come as quickly as hoped.

Investors had been concerned that the European Central Bank’s “stress test” of Eurozone banks would reveal inadequacies with capital requirements however the tests found that the fewer banks than expected were experiencing any difficulties.

Asian equities rose on Monday, taking heart from upbeat earnings and economic data that eased recent global growth fears and sharpened risk appetite. The dollar advanced to a three-week high against the yen.

Asian equities followed Wall Street higher on Thursday thanks to strong earnings and improving European data. U.S. mini futures fell following the news that a New York doctor tested positive for the Ebola virus.

Unexpectedly, business growth recovered in the Eurozone this month which helped lift the Euro from a 2-week trough versus the U.S. Dollar.

U.S. stocks retreated on Wednesday after the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose the most in a year as energy shares led losses amid a drop in oil prices.

After the European Central Bank reported that they were considering corporate bond purchases the common currency Euro edged near to a 1-week low against the U.S. Dollar.

Asian shares pulled ahead on Wednesday, taking their cue from Wall Street's strong performance as upbeat results from two technology bellwethers offset recent concerns about the outlook for the global economy.

The Australian Dollar edged noticeably higher, gaining about 0.5% against the U.S. Dollar, after the release of Chinese growth figures offered at least some relief from ongoing jitters over global growth.

Japanese shares swung between gains and losses after the Topix index posted its biggest rally in more than a year yesterday.

Improved economic data and expectations that the Federal Reserve won’t be raising interest rates in the near future helped to revive investors’ risk appetite and pushed the U.S. Dollar higher versus the Japanese Yen.

Australian state-owned health insurer Medibank plans to raise up to 5.5 billion Australia dollars ($4.8 billion) in what could be the biggest state initial public offering (IPO) since Telstra in 1997.

Asian stocks were tentatively higher on Friday after a solid set of U.S. data calmed turbulence in global financial markets, though underlying worries about slowing world economic growth kept investors on edge.