GLOBAL MARKETS-Asia shares make cautious gains after Wall Street rises as U.S. yields fall

Jan 13 (Reuters) - Asian equities made early trading gains
on Thursday after a mixed session Wall Street buoyed by
expectations of a U.S. stimulus package even as political events
in Washington culminated in the impeachment of President Donald
Trump.
U.S. Treasury yields posted their first full-session decline
in 2021 after rising for six straight sessions as investors eyed
more spending by the incoming U.S. administration.
The benchmark S&P 500 had closed slightly higher driven by
rate-sensitive defensive sectors such as utilities .SPlRCU and
real estate .SPLRCR , while economically sensitive cyclical
sectors lagged. "There this push-pull relationship between what happens in
the bond market and equity markets," said Charlie Ripley, senior
investment strategist at Allianz Investment Management.
"Bond yields have risen in prospect of more stimulus
spending and if yields continue to rise to there's going to be
some pressure on equity markets."
Australian S&P/ASX 200 futures YAPcm1 rose 0.21% in early
trading, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index futures .HSI
HSIc1 rose 0.23%.
Intel Corp INTC.O was the biggest percentage gainer in the
S&P, advancing 7% after the chipmaker said it would replace its
Chief Executive Officer Bob Swan with VMware Inc VMW.N CEO Pat
Gelsinger next month. Wall Street's main indexes had hit record highs last week
on expectations for a hefty COVID-19 relief package, which
President-elect Joe Biden is due to unveil on Thursday.
Following the storming of the U.S. Capitol, the House of
Representatives voted on Wednesday to impeach Donald Trump,
making him the first U.S. president to be impeached twice.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell
0.03%, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 0.23%, and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC added 0.43%.
Several Federal Reserve officials pushed back against the idea
of the central bank tapering its asset purchases any time soon
despite expectations of higher inflation. The climb in yields is expected to resume, partly due to the
effect of the stimulus package from the Biden adimistration,
which will be inaugurated next week.
An auction of $24 billion in 30-year bonds was well bid,
further pressuring yields lower. Benchmark 10-year notes
US10YT=RR last rose 13/32 in price to yield 1.0951%, from
1.138% late on Tuesday.
The U.S. dollar rebounded from near three-week lows on
Wednesday, rising broadly on hopes of increased government
spending.
The dollar index =USD rose 0.357%, with the euro EUR=
down 0.42% to $1.2156. The Japanese yen weakened 0.11% versus
the greenback at 103.87 per dollar.
Oil prices fell as the threat of lower demand due to rising
global COVID-19 cases outweighed support from a
greater-than-anticipated drop in U.S. crude inventories.
U.S. crude CLc1 recently fell 0.6% to $52.89 per barrel
and Brent LCOc1 was at $56.04, down 0.95% on the day.
Spot gold XAU= dropped 0.4% to $1,848.05 an ounce. Silver
XAG= fell 1.38% to $25.22.


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