Global markets – Oil approximately $80 as Asian shares rise trade war impact weighs

Asian stocks followed global indexes higher on Thursday as investors took a less bearish view on the impact of the U.S.-China trade war on markets.

Brent sweet crude was 0.3 per cent higher at 79.67 dollars per barrel.

U.S. crude was 71.67 dollars a barrel on top of a jump Wednesday that came after new data showed U.S. crude inventories fell 2.1 million barrels last week.

This is its fifth weekly draw down to 394.1 million barrels.

That was the lowest level since February 2015.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan took its lead from gains on Wall Street overnight, rising 0.2 per cent.

Japan’s Nikkei stock index was flat with a recent rally appearing to lose steam as it entered its fifth day.

Australian shares eased 0.2 per cent.

But gains in the MSCI index were tempered as a rebound in Chinese shares faltered with the Shanghai Composite index dropping 0.1 per cent, reversing early gains.

Shares in Hong Kong also turned lower as the Hang Seng index edged down 0.04 per cent.

The broad index fell despite encouraging signals about investor appetite in Hong Kong listings from a strong debut by Chinese online food delivery-to-ticketing services firm Meituan Dianping.

U.S. shares had been boosted Wednesday by expectations that the impact of the Sino-U.S. trade war would be smaller than feared.

The U.S. fiscal policy package potentially outweighed any negative impact.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.61 per cent higher on Wednesday at 26,405.76, its highest close since late January.

The Nasdaq Composite dropped less than 0.1 per cent to 7,950.04, pulled down by a fall in Microsoft.

On Thursday, S&P 500 E-mini futures were higher by a hair, at 2,910.5.

Analysts at Citi cautioned in a note Thursday that U.S. housing data out this week showed signs of weakness despite a headline jump.

Citi said housing starts had been strong, but building permits – an indicator of future activity – were at their lowest since May 2017.

“The housing market remains a specific point of weakness in the U.S. economy and while not in focus, it could be important… housing data on Tuesday wasn’t encouraging on net.”

The rally in global stocks has been accompanied by falls in U.S. bonds and the Japanese yen.

This week’s rise in yields comes ahead of what is expected to be a hawkish meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve next week.

The dollar was 0.1 per cent lower against the yen at 112.12 . The euro was 0.1 per cent stronger against the greenback at 1.1673 dollars.

The dollar index, which tracks the dollar against a basket of six major rivals, was down 0.08 per cent at 94.466.

Meanwhile, safe-haven assets such as U.S. bonds and the Japanese yen slipped with hope the ongoing U.S-China trade spat abates.

Gold was high helped by U.S. dollar low.