Asian shares edge up with U.S. tax bill in focus

A pedestrian stands to look at an electronic board showing the stock market indices of various countries outside a brokerage in Tokyo. Image Source: Reuters

Asian shares pushed higher on Friday, cheered by Wall Street gains after apparent progress on U.S. tax legislation as investors waited for the Senate`s vote, while higher U.S. Treasury yields underpinned the dollar.

MSCI`s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.1 percent. For the week, it was 2.6 percent lower.

Japan`s Nikkei stock index was up 0.8 percent in early trade, on track to gain 1.6 percent for the week.

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"The Nikkei got a lift from the stronger dollar, while the market`s main focus is now whether the tax bill will pass or not," said Yutaka Miura, a senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities in Tokyo.

On Wall Street overnight, major indexes marked gains, with sentiment lifted by apparent progress toward passage of the tax reform legislation. The S&P 500 hit a record closing high and the Dow Jones industrial average topped the 24,000 mark for the first time.

Chances of passage of a Senate tax bill rose with the endorsement of Senator John McCain, as that branch of Congress moved toward a decisive vote. The House approved its own tax bill on Nov. 16.

News of McCain`s endorsement pushed up U.S. Treasury yields to five-week highs, which underpinned the recently beleaguered dollar.

The 10-year Treasury yield stood at 2.415 percent in early Asian trade, steady from its U.S. close on Thursday, and above Wednesday`s U.S. close of 2.322 percent.

The dollar was steady on the day 112.54 yen after touching 112.690 earlier, its highest since Nov. 21, moving away from a 10-week low of 110.85 yen touched on Monday.

The euro was also steady at $1.1908, below a two-month peak of $1.1961 scaled on Monday.

Bitcoin was up 1.1 percent at $10,042, moving away from the previous session`s low of $9,000, and well shy of this week`s record high of $11,395.

Crude oil futures edged down but held on to most of their gains made on Thursday after OPEC and non-OPEC producers led by Russia agreed to extend output cuts until the end of 2018, while also signalling a possible early exit from the deal if the market overheats.

U.S. crude futures were down 3 cents, or 0.1 percent, at $57.37 a barrel. For November, U.S. crude added 5.5 percent.

(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)

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