* Biden plans $2.3 trillion broad spending programme
* MSCI AxJ index gains 0.6% in early trading
* U.S. Treasuries under pressure, dollar firm
By Tom Westbrook and Alwyn Scott
SINGAPORE/NEW YORK, April 1 (Reuters) - Stocks crept higher
on Thursday following their weakest quarter in a year, while
higher Treasury yields supported the dollar, as investors parsed
the details of a $2 trillion U.S. government spending plan and
hoped for strong jobs data later in the week.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS rose 0.6% after a modest drop on Wednesday.
Japan's Nikkei .N225 rose 1.3% as a survey showed big
manufacturers' mood bouncing back to pre-pandemic levels.
Ten-year U.S. Treasuries, which had suffered their biggest
selloff in a dozen years last quarter, remained under pressure
and yields crept as high as 1.753% US10YT=RR , while the dollar
stood just shy of a one-year peak on the yen JPY= at 110.685.
On the heels of a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package,
President Joe Biden on Wednesday outlined a broad plan to
re-make the world's biggest economy including spending on roads,
railways, broadband, clean energy and semiconductor manufacture.
"We'll probably see more spending power from the stimulus
than drag from the (accompanying) taxes," said Jun Bei Liu,
portfolio manager at Tribeca Investment Partners in Sydney.
"And if anything the higher taxes probably limit future
inflationary pressure, and in a strange way might even help bond
yields to stabilise where they are."
It is not clear if the plan could clear Congress, since it
has had an icy reception from Republicans, however, the breadth
of the proposed spending did help draw investors back to
technology shares overnight, and the Nasdaq rose 1.5%. .NDX
Biden's plan includes a $174 billion investment in electric
vehicles, and Tesla TSLA.O led gains with a 5% jump, while
Apple AAPL.O rose 1.9% and Microsoft MSFT.O lifted 1.7%.
"We're just seeing a bit of momentum in people picking up
some of the left-behind sectors, which is growth, and that will
flow through into Asia."
SHIFTING SENTIMENT
U.S. markets had closed out the quarter with gains - the S&P
500 .SPX rose 5.8% and the Dow Jones .DJI 7.8% over the
three months - however the 4.1% quarterly rise in world stocks
.MIWD00000PUS was the slowest since the recovery from last
March's meltdown had begun.
This has come with growing concern about hiccups in the
vaccine rollout and a fresh wave of coronavirus infections,
particularly in Europe where on Wednesday France ordered a third
national lockdown. The euro EUR=EBS has been punished as the pandemic turns
resurgent on the continent, and was clinging on at $1.1729 in
Asia while investors awaited Friday's U.S. labour market data to
assess the growing gap in recoveries astride the Atlantic Ocean.
There are also other signs of fragility in sentiment and
rising risk. The flop listing of food delivery company Deliveroo
ROO.L , which fell by nearly a third on debut in London, is a
far cry from the frenzy that sent U.S. new-economy names Airbnb
ABNB.O and DoorDash DASH.N soaring on debut last year.
Investors are jittery about the fallout from the fire sale
of holdings by stricken asset manager Archegos Capital, which
has walloped the stocks involved and shares in some of Archegos'
brokers, Credit Suisse CSGN.S and Nomura 8604.T .
Australia's fastest home-price gains in more than three
decades last month also point to some of the side effects of
ultra-easy monetary policy, possibly putting pressure on central
banks to curtail support sooner than they had planned.
Risk-sensitive currencies and commodities reflected the
caution, and the Australian and New Zealand dollars AUD=
NZD= each weakened about 0.2% on Thursday. Crude oil prices
nursed overnight losses with Brent futures LCOc1 rebounding
about 0.5% to $63.03 a barrel and U.S. crude CLc1 up 0.6% at
$59.52. O/R
Gold XAU= , which pays no income, was mostly flat after an
overnight bounce above $1,700. Even so, it suffered its worst
quarter since late 2016 owing to the rise in U.S. yields.
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Global assets http://tmsnrt.rs/2jvdmXl
Global currencies vs. dollar http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
Emerging markets http://tmsnrt.rs/2ihRugV
MSCI All Country World Index Market Cap http://tmsnrt.rs/2EmTD6j
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