Oil prices rose above $36 a barrel overnight as the number of active drilling rigs in the U.S. dropped to its lowest level in six years. Crude advanced to a two-month high in New York, after surging by about 10 percent in each of the last two weeks, while iron ore prices jumped in China.
Most of Asia’s emerging-market stocks and currencies advanced with the MSCI Asia Pacific excluding Japan Index climbing to a two-month high. Malaysia’s ringgit and Indonesia’s rupiah rose to their strongest levels since last August. Australia’s currency and copper retreated as a technical indicator signaled recent rallies were overdone. European and U.S. stock index futures fell.
Chinese shares rose with the Shanghai Composite Index up 0.8%, led by gains in shares of basic materials producers. The smaller Shenzhen Composite Index climbed 2.3%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index turned up 0.2 percent, Korea’s Kospi was up 0.3 percent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 came in 1.1 percent higher. Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average dropped 0.5 percent.
BOJ Speaks
Bank of Japan Governor, Haruhiko Kuroda, spoke at the Yomiuri International Economic Society in Tokyo Sunday and reiterated his reasons for introducing a negative interest rate of minus 0.1 percent to current accounts that financial institutions hold at the Bank, claiming that the move will have an impact on financial institutions, financial markets, and, more broadly, people's lives in general.
Meanwhile, preliminary survey results showed that Japan's leading index declined for the third consecutive month in January to the lowest level in four years.