Asian markets are mostly higher Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump urged lawmakers to pass a set of smaller coronavirus relief measures.
Japan’s Nikkei index finished 0.9% higher. Australia’s S&P/ASX is up 1%. The KOSPI index in South Korea ended 0.2% higher, and the TSEC index in Taiwan gained 1.1%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index is 0.5% lower in late afternoon trading, while Mumbai’s Sensex is 1.3% higher.
Shanghai’s Composite index remains closed for a national holiday.
In commodities trading, gold is selling at $1,898.50 an ounce, up 0.4%. U.S. crude oil is trading at $40.21 per barrel, up 0.6%, and Brent crude oil is trading at $42.29 per barrel, up 0.7%.
U.S. markets plunged Tuesday after Trump went on Twitter and said his administration was ending negotiations with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over a new coronavirus relief package. However, he seemed to reverse course just hours later, saying he was open to sending another round of $1,200 payments to Americans, plus measures aimed specifically to help the airline industry and small businesses.
All three major U.S. indices are trending positively in futures trading.
