Asian Markets are good news for oil demand - Jan 26

[dan_s]

Asia equities ended mostly higher Thursday with Hong Kong stocks leading the gainers after being closed for 3 days celebrating the Lunar New Year holiday. Hang Seng gapped higher by around 2% before steadily increasing to the close, Hang Seng tech index 4% better. Japan ended with small losses after several days of gains. South Korea with another very strong day, Southeast Asia markets higher.
> Mainland China, Taiwan, India and Australia all closed for various holidays.
> US futures higher, Europe opened with solid gains.
> US dollar flat, Treasury yields lower at the long end, 10-year JGB yield up to 0.46%.
> Cryptocurrencies lower.

Asia markets uncertain of direction with some profit taking evident in Japan while Hong Kong bounced on reopening post a three-day holiday. Overnight, US markets sharply lower at the open before recovery, evidently on news the Bank of Canada would pause on rate hikes following its 25 bps bump yesterday morning. In Asia, Chinese high-frequency data indicated economic activity appears to be returning to normal over the Lunar New Year holiday with travel- and leisure-related numbers comparing favorably against pre-pandemic 2019. Health officials claimed serious infections and deaths caused by Covid down by more than 70% although narrow definition of Covid illnesses may skew this number.