By Chibuike Oguh
April 7 (Reuters) - Asian equities are poised to track Wall
Street's cautious gains on Thursday after minutes from the
Federal Reserve's latest meeting reiterated its commitment to
keep interest rates low until the U.S. economy makes a more
secure recovery.
The S&P 500 and Dow closed slightly higher on Wednesday, as
the Fed's commentary reinforced investor expectations that the
central bank plans to maintain its policy support despite
massive fiscal spending from the recent government stimulus
package.
"Investors remain intensely focused on interest rates," said
Jeff Buchbinder, equity strategist at LPL Financial in Boston.
"We in the market didn't expect any signals of a change in
policy and that's what we got."
Australian S&P/ASX 200 futures YAPcm1 rose 0.52% in early
trading, while Japan's Nikkei 225 futures NKc1 added 0.03%.
U.S. Federal Reserve officials expressed caution about
ongoing risks of the pandemic and reaffirmed their commitment to
bolstering the economy given "that the path ahead remained
highly uncertain," the minutes from the March 16-17 meeting
said. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note
10USYT=RR moved higher late in the session, yet remained below
a 14-month high of 1.776% hit on March 30. The recent pullback
in yields has helped growth names and lifted technology
.SPLRCT and communication services .SPLRCL stocks as the
best performing sectors on the day.
"The 10-year yield didn't move much today and the rate seems
to be settling in to a little bit lower range that really
coincides with the better performance for the growth stocks,
particularly tech," Buchbinder said.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose
0.05% to 33,446.26, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 0.15% to 4,079.95
and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 0.07% to 13,688.84.
Following the release of the Fed minutes, the benchmark
10-year notes US10YT=RR last fell 4/32 in price to yield
1.6686%, down from 1.656% late on Tuesday. "We've already seen long-term 10-year rates jump up and with
the Fed telling us they are not going to move so interest rates
could stay at the lows that they are until maybe 2022 when they
step in," said Jeff Carbone, managing partner at Cornerstone
Wealth Group in Charlotte.
The U.S. dollar advanced against a basket of world currencies
after oscillating for much of the session, rising in the wake of
the Fed minutes release. The dollar index =USD rose 0.148%, with the euro EUR=
down 0.02% to $1.1868. The Japanese yen was flat versus the
greenback at 109.85 per dollar, while the Korean won
strengthened 0.03% versus the greenback at 1,118.71 per dollar.
Gold prices dipped as economic optimism drew investors away
from the safe-haven metal in favor of riskier assets.
Spot gold XAU= dropped 0.4% to $1,737.11 an ounce. U.S.
gold futures GCv1 settled 0.1% lower at $1,741.6.
Crude oil prices rose on an improving global economic
outlook, but were held in check by rising gasoline inventories.
U.S. crude CLcv1 settled at $59.77 per barrel, up 0.74%,
while Brent LCOcv1 gained 0.67% to settle at $63.16 per
barrel.
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Global currencies vs. dollar http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
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MSCI All Country World Index Market Cap http://tmsnrt.rs/2EmTD6j
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