Equities rise, dollar falls amid China Covid shift

Equities and crude oil climbed Tuesday while the dollar declined amid positive sentiment from China’s rollback of Covid isolation measures and the cooling of a key inflation measure in the US.

Chinese, Japanese and South Korean shares opened higher and futures contracts for US stocks rose about 0.7%. Oil was supported by the outlook for demand in China and as freezing weather across the US prompted refinery closures.

The offshore yuan added slightly to its advance overnight and the Thai baht rose on China’s announcement that it would drop quarantine for inbound travelers early next month. A gauge of dollar strength declined.

Yields on US Treasuries inched lower as they resumed trading after the benchmark 10-year rate increased the most last week since early April. It was around 3.73% on Tuesday.

Investors are taking encouragement from data on Friday that showed the Federal Reserve’s closely watched measure of inflation cooling and consumer spending stagnating. Still, price pressures from the tight labor market remain a concern for the Fed and a challenge to bets that interest rates will be cut next year.

Equities markets in Hong Kong and Australia remain closed Tuesday.

Some of the main international market moves:

Stocks
S&P 500 futures rose 0.7% as of 10:35 a.m. Tokyo time
Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.8%
Euro Stoxx 50 futures rose 0.7%
Japan’s Topix index rose 0.6%
South Korea’s Kospi index rose 0.6%
The Shanghai Composite rose 0.3%

Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%
The euro was little changed at $1.0645
The Japanese yen fell 0.2% to 133.10 per dollar
The offshore yuan was little changed at 6.9716 per dollar
The Australian dollar rose 0.2% to $0.6741

Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin rose 0.2% to $16 864.99
Ether rose 0.5% to $1 223.4

Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined two basis points to 3.73%
Japan’s 10-year yield advanced one-and-a-half basis points to 0.46%

Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1% to $80.33 a barrel
Spot gold rose 0.2% to $1 801.16 an ounce

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