By Suzanne Barlyn
July 30 (Reuters) - Asian equities were set to rise on
Friday after shares of Apple AAPL.O , Amazon AMZN.O and
Facebook FB.O surged in extended trading on Thursday, with
Alphabet GOOGL.O also climbing, while the U.S. dollar
continued to slide.
The Big Tech quartet reported quarterly earnings on the same
day for the first time ever, all topping Wall Street estimates.
"All of them punched the lights out with respect to their
earnings numbers," said National Australia Bank strategist Ray
Attrill. "It looks like it should be a pretty risk positive run
into the weekend," Attrill said, also pointing to E-mini futures
for the S&P 500 EScv1 , which rose 0.58%.
Deemed "stay-at-home" winners as millions of Americans were
ordered indoors to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, shares of the
largest U.S. technology companies have hit record highs in
recent months as the coronavirus pandemic has thrown the economy
into its steepest contraction since the Great Depression.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index futures .HSI HSIc1 rose
0.06%. Australian S&P/ASX 200 futures YAPcm1 lost 0.47%, while
Japan's Nikkei 225 futures NKc1 added 0.34%.
Analysts are expecting industrial production data from Japan
on Friday, along with China's Purchasing Managers Index, a
measure of factory activity.
Some fund managers also adjust their hedges on the last day
of the month, which is likely to weaken the U.S. dollar and
strengthen other currencies, such as the euro and Australian
dollar, said Joseph Capurso, head of international economics at
Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
U.S. stock markets, oil prices and the dollar slid on
Thursday as new government data underscored the deep economic
impact of the coronavirus and U.S. President Donald Trump raised
the possibility of delaying the November election.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell
225.92 points, or 0.85%, to 26,313.65, the S&P 500 .SPX lost
12.22 points, or 0.38%, to 3,246.22 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC added 44.87 points, or 0.43%, to 10,587.81.
The dollar index =USD fell 0.591%, and remains on course
for its worst monthly performance in a decade, with the euro
EUR= up 0.2% to $1.187.
The dollar has fallen on expectations the Fed will maintain
its ultra-loose monetary policy for years, which risks adding
inflationary pressure.
Trump repeated his claims, without evidence, of mail-in
voter fraud on Thursday, writing in a Twitter post: "delay the
election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???"
At a White House news conference later in the day, Trump did
not call again for an election delay but said he was worried
about fraud and a long wait for results from counting mail
ballots.
"Do I want to see a date change? No. But I don't want to see
a crooked election," he told reporters.
New U.S. government data on Thursday underscored the deep
economic impact of the coronavirus.
U.S. GDP collapsed at a 32.9% annualized rate during the
second quarter, slightly less than expected, but still the
deepest decline in output since the government started keeping
records in 1947, the Commerce Department said. Also jobless claims rose last week, adding to signs the
momentum of economic recovery has slowed as coronavirus cases
spiraled in southern and western U.S. states. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS closed 0.06% lower.
In commodity markets, oil markets fell following Trump's
tweet. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures
settled down $1.35, or 3.3%, at $39.92 a barrel after falling 5%
earlier in the session. Spot gold XAU= dropped 0.2% to $1,955.65 an ounce. U.S.
gold futures GCc1 gained 0.43% to $1,950.60 an ounce.
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