<figure id="attachment_2936560" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2936560" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-2936560" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/067ed1e5-japan_nikkei-ap-121224.webp" alt="Japan_Nikkei ap" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-2936560" class="wp-caption-text">Japan&#8217;s Nikkei climbed about 1.2% yesterday. (AP pic)</figcaption></figure>
TOKYO: Japanese stocks jumped today, supported by the dollar&#8217;s surge against the yen, after a US trade deal with Britain fuelled hopes of progress in tariff talks with other countries.
Bitcoin soared to the highest since January and US crude ticked up after a more than 3% surge yesterday, when President Donald Trump announced the agreement with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer – the first in the month since Trump started a 90-day pause on trade tariffs to allow room for negotiations.
At the same time, concerns that the limited trade agreement with London may not provide much of a blueprint for additional deals cooled optimism around the outcome of Sino-US trade talks set for tomorrow in Switzerland.
Mainland blue chips started the day 0.2% lower, while Hong Kong&#8217;s Hang Seng rose 0.2%.
Japan&#8217;s Nikkei and broader Topix each climbed about 1.2%, with the Topix set to extend its winning streak to an 11th session, the longest run since October 2017.
Taiwan&#8217;s equity benchmark advanced 1%, while Australian stocks added 0.4%.
MSCI&#8217;s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was broadly flat.
&#8220;The deal between the US and UK was more style over substance,&#8221; said Kyle Rodda, a senior financial markets analyst at Capital.com.
&#8220;However, it feeds the narrative that the US is looking to bang-out rapid fire trade deals and reduce tariffs – at the margins – and other trade barriers,&#8221; Rodda said.
&#8220;Constructive language and statements of intent will likely be enough to drive stocks higher off the back of the US-China trade talks.&#8221;
Trump pushed back against seeing the UK deal as a template for other negotiations.
The &#8220;general terms&#8221; agreement leaves in place a 10% tariff on goods imported from the UK but lowers prohibitive US duties on UK car exports.
Britain agreed to lower its tariffs to 1.8% from 5.1% and provide greater access to US goods.
Last week, Trump said he has &#8220;potential&#8221; trade deals with India, South Korea and Japan.
Nymex crude ticked up 0.2% to US$60.02 per barrel early today, building on the previous day&#8217;s 3.2% surge.
Brent crude added 0.3% to US$63 per barrel, following yesterday&#8217;s 2.8% rally.
Safe-haven gold continued its slide, weakening 0.5% to around 3,288 an ounce, after dropping 3.6% in the past two sessions.
The US dollar index, which measures the currency against six major peers, edged up 0.1% to reach a one-month peak at 100.77.
The euro sagged to a one-month trough at US$1.12105, and sterling slipped to a three-week low of US$1.32205.
The yen ticked up slightly to 145.77 per dollar, but that was after a 1.5% tumble yesterday, when it touched a one-month low of 146.175.
Higher US treasury yields helped support the greenback, with the 10-year yield steady at 4.3687% following yesterday&#8217;s 10-basis point jump as demand for the safety of bonds ebbed.
Bitcoin was also buoyed by the improvement in market sentiment, rising to the highest since Jan 31 at US$103,090.17, and closing the distance with the all-time high from Jan 20 at US$109,071.86.
Standard Chartered&#8217;s Geoffrey Kendrick no longer sees risk sentiment as the main driver for the world&#8217;s biggest cryptocurrency.
&#8220;It is now all about flows, and flows are coming in many forms,&#8221; said Kendrick, the bank&#8217;s global head of digital assets research, pointing to an influx of cash into bitcoin ETFs, as well as buying by so-called whales.
&#8220;I think a fresh all-time high for bitcoin is coming soon,&#8221; he said.
&#8220;I apologise that my US$120,000 Q2 target may be too low.&#8221;

MatchPoint Times

Japanese stocks, bitcoin jump as dollar firms on trade hopes

US crude also ticked up after a more than 3% surge yesterday.

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