Asian shares, dollar rally after Wall St surge

HONG KONG: Asian markets firmed Thursday, taking up the baton from Wall Street, where dealers broke a three-day losing streak thanks to news that new home sales had hit a six-year high.

The strong US data helped the dollar resume its uptrend and push back towards the 110 yen level, while the euro struggled after a disappointing survey of business confidence in Germany.

Tokyo shares rose 1.11 percent as the yen fell to levels not seen since August 2008, while Hong Kong climbed 0.53 percent, Sydney added 0.26 percent, Seoul was up 0.25 percent and Shanghai gained 0.64 percent.

Asian markets, which have been in a slumber this week, got a shot in the arm from the surge on New York´s three main indexes in response to the housing figures.

The US Commerce Department said sales of new single-family houses surged 18 percent in August to an annual rate of 504,000, their fastest pace since May 2008.The Dow jumped 0.90 percent, the S&P 500 rose 0.78 percent and the Nasdaq rallied 1.03 percent.

The news also lit a fire under the dollar, which jumped Wednesday in New York to 109.04 yen from 108.57 yen earlier in the day.

On Thursday in Tokyo the greenback rose further, hitting 109.30 yen, its strongest level since August 2008.Daisuke Uno, strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking, told Dow Jones Newswires: "It´s probably fair to say that US employment data (on October 3) hold the key to more dollar strength, since a US economic rebound is the biggest fundamental reason to buy dollars."

The greenback also made more inroads against the euro after Germany´s Ifo survey of business confidence hit a 17-month low in September.

The euro bought $1.2777 Thursday, down from $1.2781 in US trade, where it fell through the 1.28 mark for the first time since July 2013. The common currency also bought 139.64 yen, compared with 139.37 yen Wednesday.

On oil markets, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for November delivery fell three cents to $92.77 while Brent crude for November eased five cents to $96.90.

Gold was at $1,213.20 an ounce against $1,220.98 an ounce late Wednesday. (AFP)