Asian stocks opened higher on Friday (December 12) morning after Wall Street and global equity indexes set new records. The MSCI Asia Stock Index rose about 0.5% early in the session, with the Japanese and Australian benchmarks gaining about 1%. Positive sentiment stemmed from the Fed's third consecutive interest rate cut, which encouraged investors to venture into riskier assets. Among leading stocks, SoftBank Group surged more than 5% after news that the company was considering potential acquisitions, including data center operator Switch Inc.

In the US, the S&P 500 closed up 0.2% on Thursday, pushing the MSCI All Country World Index to its highest closing level since 2019, putting global stock markets on track for their best year since 2019. However, caution remained in the technology sector after Broadcom shares fell in after-hours trading due to its AI revenue projections falling short of market expectations. Nasdaq 100 futures also appeared slightly lower on Friday. In Asia, additional focus came from Thailand after Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul took the step of dissolving parliament and paving the way for early elections.

In other markets, the yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond fell slightly after weekly jobless claims data rose higher than expected, while the dollar index hovered near a two-month low. Commodity-wise, copper hit a new record, and most industrial metals rallied after the Fed cut interest rates and raised its US economic growth forecast. Gold and silver corrected slightly in the Asian session after earlier rallies, oil rose, and Bitcoin remained fluctuating within a narrow range around the US$93,000 area. (az)

Source: Newsmaker.id