- Technology shares in the region will likely remain in focus for investors after the sector bounced overnight stateside.
- In recent sessions, investors have moved out of technology and "stay-at-home" stocks in favor of cyclicals that would benefit from an economic recovery.
- Despite positive news on the vaccine front, the pandemic situation remains severe with the U.S. recently setting a new record of average daily cases while the United Kingdom reported its highest daily deaths since May.
SINGAPORE — Stocks in Japan were set to trade higher following an overnight bounce for tech stocks on Wall Street as a recent rotation into cyclicals paused.
Futures pointed to a higher open for Japanese stocks. The Nikkei futures contract in Chicago was at 25,545 while its counterpart in Osaka was at 25,490. That compared against the Nikkei 225's last close at 25,349.60.
Shares of Australia were higher in early trade, with the S&P/ASX 200 gaining about 0.2%.
Technology shares in the region will likely remain in focus for investors after the sector bounced overnight stateside.
In recent sessions, investors have moved out of technology and "stay-at-home" stocks in favor of cyclicals that would benefit from an economic recovery. That came following a Monday announcement by Pfizer and BioNTech that their coronavirus vaccine was more than 90% effective in preventing Covid-19 among those without evidence of prior infection.
Still, the pandemic situation remains severe, with the U.S. recently setting a new record of average daily cases while the United Kingdom reported its highest daily deaths since May.
Money Report
Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 closed 0.8% higher at 3,572.66 while the Nasdaq Composite ended its trading day 2% higher at 11,786.43. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lagged as it close 23.29 points lower at 29,397.63.
Currencies
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 92.991 after seeing levels above 93.1 earlier.
The Japanese yen traded at 105.41 per dollar, still off levels below 104.3 against the greenback seen earlier this week. The Australian dollar was at $0.7278, having seen levels around $0.73 yesterday.
