Stocks trying to hold momentum in Asia after U.S. records By Reuters

By David Henry

(Reuters) – Global stocks were poised to rise again on Tuesday in Asian trading after another record-setting day on Wall Street.

{{178|Japan’s Ni rose 0.15%, e-mini futures for the rose 0.04% and Australian rose 0.12% in early trading.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was last up 0.04% at 720.5.

The early action came after another day of so-called reflation trades around the world in which global markets bid up stocks, cryptocurrencies, oil and gold while U.S. Treasury yields held near 11-month highs and the dollar steadied.

Expectations have been building that inflation will pick up as governments and central banks continue massive spending and easy money policies until officials are certain that their economies will recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

“Reflation on the back of U.S. fiscal stimulus and positive vaccine news remains the major theme for markets,” strategists at National Australia Bank (OTC:) wrote.

Wall Street reached all-time closing highs on Monday as the added nearly 1% and the S&P 500 and the gained about 0.75%.

Cryptocurrency bitcoin rose more than 15% on Monday to another record high of $45,000 after Tesla (NASDAQ:) Inc said it had invested around $1.5 billion in the virtual currency and expects to accept it as payment for its cars in the future.

Oil prices rose more than 2% on Monday to their highest levels in more than a year, with nudging past $60 a barrel.

“There is a sense that the glut of oil supply is disappearing more rapidly than anybody thought possible,” said Phil Flynn, senior analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago. “There seems to be a paradigm shift in the market.”

jumping more than 1% on Monday to $1,830.17 an ounce as expectations of a large U.S. economic stimulus package bolstered its appeal as an inflation hedge.

The which stabilized on Monday after tripping at the end of last week on a weaker-than-expected jobs report, and was last down a bare 0.04% at 90.964.

Against the yen, the dollar was flat at 105.22.