Sydney — Asian shares pushed to three-month highs on Monday as progress on opening up economies helped offset jitters over riots in US cities and unease over Washington’s power struggle with Beijing.
After a cautious start Asian markets were led higher by China on signs parts of the domestic economy were picking up. Hong Kong managed to rally 3.6%, while Chinese blue chips put on 2.2%. The resilience was notable given major US cities were cleaning up streets strewn with broken glass and burnt-out cars as curfews failed to stop confrontations between activists and law enforcement.
“To the extent that some sectors may never return to pre-pandemic business-as-usual, labour faces a substantial challenge to reallocate workers,” he added. “Such a process could be a matter of years rather than months or quarters and in the meantime it would weigh on consumer demand.” The decline in US yields has been a burden for the dollar, but the world’s reserve currency also tends to benefit from safe-haven status to limit the losses.