Asian stocks on fire, U.S. dollar comeback fizzles

19 Jan 2021

SYDNEY, NSW, Australia – Stocks in Asia were hot on Tuesday, although mainland China was running against the trend.

Hong Kong stocks in late trading were well ahead, with the Hang Seng nearly 2 percent higher.

Japanese shares rebounded after two days of losses.

The Nikkei 225 Index rose 391.25 points or 1.39 percent to 28,633.46, while the broader Topix indesx gained 0.56 percent to 1,855.84.

“Investors are buying back shares which were sold out of concerns for overheat yesterday,” Hideyuki Suzuki, general manager at investment research for SBI Securities Suzuki told Reuters Thomson Tuesday.

“Today’s (Tuesday) rise represents the fundamental strength of the Japanese market. It is moving on its own without being influenced by the U.S. market, which was closed yesterday.”

The Australian All Ordinaries added 79.60 points or 1.15 percent to 7,015.00.

The U.S. dollar was mostly stronger in the Asian zone with the euro strengthening to 1.2095 by the Sydney close Tuesday. The British pound firmed to 1.3600. The Japanese yen eased a fraction to 104.07, while the Swiss franc was unchanged at .8909.

The Canadian dollar was slightly higher at 1.2727. The Australian dollar was higher at 0.7710. The New Zealand dollar edged up to 0.7131.

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