Shares generally gain ground in Asia, while greenback flounders

Lola Evans
20 Jan 2021, 16:59 GMT+10

Stock markets in Asia generally advanced on Wednesday.
"There will be a large-scale fiscal spending."
The Australian All Ordinaries added 36.00 points or 0.51 percent to 7,051.00.

SYDNEY, NSW, Australia - Stock markets in Asia generally advanced on Wednesday, confident the incoming Biden administration will take positive steps to shore up the U.S. economy.

"There will be a large-scale fiscal spending. The Fed is seeking to achieve two percent inflation and full employment, which still look distant, so it will keep interest rates low for some time and market sentiment should remain robust," Yoshinori Shigemi, macro strategist at Fidelity International told Reuters Thomson Wednesday.

The Australian All Ordinaries added 36.00 points or 0.51 percent to 7,051.00.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng rallied 320.19 points or 1.08 percent to 29,962.47.

China's Shanghai Composite rose 16.71 points or 0.47 percent to 3,583.09.

The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo meantime has closed with a loss. The coveted index lost 110.20 points or 0.38 percent to 28,523.26.

The U.S. dollar lost ground in the Asian time zone Wednesday. The euro jumped to 1.2144. The British pound cruised to 1.3660. The Japanese yen edged up to 103.72, while the Swiss franc firmed to 0.8879.

The Canadian dollar was stronger at 1.2704. The Australian dollar was sharply higher at 0.7730. The New Zealand dollar graduated to 0.7133.

Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrials were ahead 116.26 points or 0.38 percent to 30,930.52.

The Standard and Poor's 500 added 30.66 points or 0.81 percent to 3,798.91.

The Nasdaq Composite did best, climbing 198.68 points or 1.53 percent to 13,197.18.

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