Wall Street shrugged off a sluggish start to close higher as the Nasdaq soared above 11,000 points as investors remain bullish on stocks and hope for a new fiscal stimulus package.
Earlier in the day European markets traded lower while Asia-Pacific was mixed. The U.S. markets remains the place to be, in particular the very mature technology sector.
The Australian market rose on Thursday to extend this week’s strong run as the ASX 200 index climbed above 6,000 points. Following the action on Wall Street investors might expect another day of gains, but ASX futures point to a 15 point dip on the open.
As markets continue to rebound from their march lows, investors in Australia and overseas are looking to the next fiscal aid package to further cope with fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Share markets in Asia-Pacific kicked off the trading day somewhat mixed once again as markets in Australia and China rose, while Japan and Hong Kong sank lower. The Aussie share market has been performing strongly in a region that is lacking direction at times.
The Hang Seng Index dipped 0.69% to 24,930.58 points. The Nikkei 225 fell 0.43% in Tokyo.
The Shanghai Composite Index lifted 0.26% and is now approaching 3,400 points again.
Stock markets in Europe underperformed most of its peers as sentiment was subdued. The pan-continental STOXX Europe 600 Index fell 0.73%, weighed down by 1.27% slump of the FTSE100 in London.
The German DAX fared only slightly better and closed down 0.54% to 12,591.68.
In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 185.46 points, or 0.68%, to 27,386.98 and the the S&P 500 gained 21.39 points, or 0.64%, to 3,349.16.
The star performer was once again the Nasdaq Composite which jumped over 100 points, or 1%, to 11,108.07 – an all-time high – rising for the seventh consecutive session.
Gold prices jumps, crude oil prices dip
Commodity price were mixed but generally remain in a bull market.
Gold remains in demand as the precious metal jumped another 1.3% to be last valued at US$2,075.20 an ounce, the highest price ever. Silver futures jumped over 5% to US$28.40.
The Crude Oil Continuous Contract fell 0.5% to fall below US$0.42 per barrel.
Other base metals were mixed as Copper futures dipped a mere 0.2% and Zinc gained nearly 3%.