Stocks opened higher in Japan, South Korea and Australia on Thursday, buoyed by gains in the U.S. markets. Futures for Hong Kong climbed, as did an index of US-listed Chinese shares.
U.S. stocks fared well as rising investor sentiment and better-than-expected results by some propped up the market. The S&P 500 was up 1.4%, as were 95% of the stocks listed on the index, and so was the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100. The yield on 10-year Treasuries was stable at 3.69%.
Crude rose 2.3%, while gold futures changed little. Bitcoin declined 0.5% to trade around $16,800-level.
India benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty opened higher but closed lower after a highly volatile session. The market breadth was skewed in the favour of bears.
Overseas investors in Indian equities turned net sellers on Wednesday. Foreign portfolio investors offloaded equities worth Rs 1,119.1 crore, while the domestic institutional investors remained net buyers for the 11th day in a row, mopping up equities worth Rs 1,757.4 crore, according to NSE data.
Rupee continued to fall against U.S. dollar amid a poor show by domestic equities and risk aversion in global markets.
The Singapore-traded SGX Nifty, an early barometer of India’s benchmark Nifty 50, was up 0.48% to 18,337.5 at 6:23 a.m.