Japan’s Nikkei jumps about 4% following oil drop; Nio sees gains fizzle in Hong Kong debut
Shares in Asia-Pacific jumped on Thursday, following an overnight bounce on Wall Street after oil prices fell sharply from a recent surge.
International benchmark Brent crude and U.S. crude futures tumbled more than 10% overnight on Wednesday.
Oil prices however recovered from some of those losses in the afternoon of Asia trading hours on Thursday, with international benchmark Brent crude futures up 4.1% to $115.70 per barrel. U.S. crude futures climbed 2.92% to $111.87 per barrel.
Asia markets responded on Thursday to the overnight declines in oil prices. China, India, Japan and South Korea are all major importers of oil, according to 2020 data from the International Energy Agency.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan led gains among the region’s major markets as it jumped 3.94% to close at 25,690.40 while the Topix index climbed 4.04% to 1,830.03.
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong closed 1.27% higher at 20,890.26. Shares of Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio started trading in Hong Kong on Thursday, in what is the firm’s secondary listing. The shares initially jumped but later erased most of those gains, finishing its debut day 0.82% above its issue price.
Mainland Chinese stocks closed in positive territory, with the Shanghai composite gaining 1.22% to 3,296.09 while the Shenzhen component surged 2.179% to 12,370.95.
South Korea’s Kospi also gained 2.21% on the day to 2,680.32, with markets returning to trade from Wednesday’s presidential election which saw conservative opposition candidate Yoon Suk-yeol emerging victorious.
In India, the Nifty 50 jumped 1.47% while the BSE Sensex advanced 1.53%, as of 1:47 p.m. local time.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 climbed 1.1% to close at 7,130.80. Shares of major miner Rio Tinto, however, plunged 7.73%. The firm told CNBC on Thursday that it is “in the process of terminating all commercial relationships it has with any Russian business.”
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 1.84%.
Overnight stateside, the S&P 500 gained 2.57% to 4,277.88. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 653.61 points, or 2%, to 33,286.25. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 3.59% to 13,255.55.
Currencies
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 98.124 after a recent decline from around 99.
The Japanese yen traded at 115.90 per dollar, weaker than levels below 115.2 seen against the greenback earlier this week. The Australian dollar was at $0.7339, still off lows below $0.726 seen earlier in the week.
