TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsStocks steady on hopes for diplomacy in Ukraine
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
A trader works inside a booth on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, US, on Jan. 18, 2022.
(REUTERS/Brendan McDermid)
U
S stock futures bounced on Friday and selling pressure eased in Asian share markets after the US Secretary of State agreed to a meeting with Russia's foreign minister, raising hopes for a diplomatic solution to the East-West standoff over Ukraine.
S&P 500 futures jumped 0.5 percent on the news and Nasdaq futures rose 0.6 percent. MSCI's broadest index of Asia shares outside Japan was last down 0.5 percent, but markets in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Sydney and Seoul all pared deeper morning losses.
US Secretary of Antony Blinken has accepted an invitation to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov late next week provided Russia does not invade Ukraine, the US State Department said.
"It's better news than what we had yesterday," said Kyle Rodda, an analyst at IG Markets in Melbourne. "But we've seen diplomatic talks go nowhere before, and the troops are still on the border, so risks remain."
Wall Street had taken a dive overnight, with the S&P 500 dropping 2.1 percent and the Nasdaq off 2.9 percent - while gold shot to an eight-month peak - on renewed US warnings of an imminent Russian invasion.
Investors fear a wider war as one of the deepest crises in post-Cold War relations plays out, with Russia wanting security guarantees, including Ukraine's never joining NATO.
Overnight, safe-haven currencies such as the Japanese yen and Swiss franc climbed to two-week highs on the dollar and they retreated a little bit in Asia trade.
Treasuries likewise gave back some overnight gains, with the benchmark 10-year yield last up two basis points (bps) to 1.9876 percent. Two-year yields also rose two bps to 1.4909 percent.
Oil dipped and Brent crude futures were last down 0.5 percent on Friday at $92.47 a barrel, more than 4 percent below Monday's peak, and US crude fell 0.5 percent to $91.26 a barrel. Gold dipped about 0.4 percent from its high to $1,889 an ounce.
Concern about conflict in Ukraine comes with markets already rattled by a rates outlook that could hold as many as seven Federal Reserve increases in the year ahead.
St. Louis Fed president James Bullard on Thursday reiterated his call for the Fed funds rate to be raised to 1 percent by July to combat stubbornly high inflation and Fed funds futures price about a 1/3 chance of a 50 bps hike next month to begin.
Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said the pace of hikes will need to be faster than previous cycles.
"Markets have been particularly volatile recently and virtually everyone adjusted their Fed hike calls higher," said NatWest Markets' strategist Jan Nevruzi.
"The consensus seems to range between 5 [our view] and 7 [every meeting] hikes and I do believe the right number lays somewhere in between. Given the strong growth trend and elevated inflation, it wouldn't be too surprising to see a hike at every meeting from now on," Nevruzi said.
On Friday, Japan reported a fifth straight month of inflation, with energy prices posting their biggest annual rise in 41 years.
Elsewhere in currency markets the dollar held its bid and was firm at $1.1359 per euro and $0.7181 per Aussie.
