Emerging-Market Shares Extend Gains, Dollar Steady

• Emerging-Market Shares Extend Gains, Dollar Steady

Emerging-market stocks extended their longest winning streak since August while the dollar was steady after a four-day drop as Federal Reserve officials reignited the debate on the timing of further policy tightening.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index rose for an eighth straight day as Chinese shares traded in Hong Kong advanced and South Korea’s Kospi headed toward the highest close in almost six years. Japan’s Topix index declined after Monday’s holiday. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was slightly higher, halting a string of losses. Oil regained some of its declines from the previous session while gold fell and copper led a retreat in basic metals.

The Fed could raise interest rates two, three or four times this year, said Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, though his Minneapolis colleague Neel Kashkari argued that there was no need to rush. In France, presidential candidates squared off in a TV debate Monday night ahead of the upcoming closely watched election.

Emerging-market stocks are trading at the highest levels since June 2015 while the dollar has slumped as much as 1.7 percent after the Fed raised interest rates on March 15 yet didn’t accelerate the timeline for future tightening. Volatility remains low across markets from equities to currencies and fixed-income as investors strive to assess how sustainable the nascent global economic recovery is.

Here are the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• The MSCI Emerging Markets gauge rose 0.4 percent as of 3:12 p.m. in Tokyo.
• South Korea’s Kospi jumped 1 percent, poised for the highest close since July 2011. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index climbed 0.6 percent to the highest since November 2015. Taiwan’s Taiex increased 0.6 percent.
• Japan’s Topix index declined 0.2 percent. New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 Index added 0.4 percent, recovering some of Monday’s 1.4 percent decline.
• Futures on the S&P 500 were up 0.1 percent. The benchmark gauge and the Stoxx Europe 600 Index both fell 0.2 percent on Monday.

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose less than 0.1 percent. The gauge fell in the previous four sessions, the longest losing streak since November.
• The yen weakened for the first time in six days, down 0.2 percent to 112.75 per dollar. The Australian dollar fell 0.3 percent.
• The euro climbed 0.2 percent to $1.0763.

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Australian government bonds fell two basis points to 2.81 percent.
• Treasury yields with a similar maturity added two basis point to 2.48 percent after losing four basis points in each of the previous two sessions.

Commodities

• Gold dropped 0.4 percent to $1,229.30 an ounce, after four days of gains.
• Oil climbed 0.4 percent to $48.39 before U.S. inventory data and as Libya prepared to restart crude shipments from major ports. WTI slumped 1.2 percent in the previous session.
• Copper slumped 1.3 percent, after a 0.9 percent drop on Monday, amid signs of returning supplies after disruptions caused the metal to surge last month to the highest level since 2015.