Asia markets rise after strong Wall St gains

Asia markets rise after strong Wall St gains

AFP / Hong Kong

Asian markets rose yesterday following strong gains on Wall Street as investors bet a surge in Covid-19 cases due to the fast-spreading Omicron variant would not derail the economic recovery.

The highly mutated strain has fuelled a massive increase in cases across the globe, with countries reviving lockdowns, thousands of flights cancelled and cruise ships returning to port with infected passengers.

But there is a “belief that Omicron is going to be a nuisance but not a dire strait for the global economy — at least not for long,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.

Wall Street enjoyed strong gains, with the S&P 500 powering ahead 1.4% to a second straight record on Monday while the Dow and Nasdaq added at least 1%.

It was the start of a historically strong seven-day post-Christmas stretch known on trading floors as the “Santa Claus rally”: A period of low trading volumes and light news flow that usually sees stocks drift higher.

The optimistic risk-on appetite carried over to Asia, with Tokyo leading the charge to close 1.4% higher while Singapore, Seoul, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur were all well into positive territory. Taipei, one of the top performers this year, added 0.8%.

Sydney and