Asian Shares Higher as Oil Recovers

By Chao Deng 

Shares in Australia rose for the sixth-straight day Wednesday as commodity prices stabilize.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.8%, the New Zealand NZX-50 gained 0.7% and South Korea's Kospi rose 0.4%.

Markets in Japan are closed for a national holiday to celebrate the emperor's birthday.

Energy shares on the S&P/ASX 200 have been some of the most beat up in the region, falling more than 11% this month, as oil falls into a prolonged rout. Shares like Woodside Petroleum Ltd. and Santos Ltd. have lost 36% and 54.7% respectively, compared with a 0.1% loss for the broader market this month.

Australia's energy sector is starting to steady--the sector is up 2.7% this week--as U.S. oil prices surpass prices on the global market for the first time in four years. Some analysts say parity between the two benchmarks could signal the start of a recovery.

"The pause in the oil price and the weakness in the U.S. dollar appear to have helped equity markets overnight," wrote Angus Nicholson, in a market note.

U.S. oil prices remain down more than 32% for the year but climbed 0.9% to $36.14 a barrel on Tuesday in New York. Wall Street Journal's U.S. dollar index was last flat at 89.97 in the U.S. on Tuesday, though it lost as much as 0.2% overnight.

Mr. Nicholson said that the stabilization of the Chinese yuan this week may have taken some steam out of the dollar. China's central bank has guided its currency slightly stronger this week, after a several days of weakening. Still, the onshore yuan now sits just stronger than its record low against the U.S. dollar, reached in 2011.

The onshore yuan closed at 6.4778 to one U.S. dollar on Tuesday. It reached as weak as 6.4836 to the dollar last week.

Traders and investors say concerns about U.S. high-yield debt and the energy sector have kept a lid on equity-market gains but U.S. stocks still rose overnight along with commodity prices.

That's even as data showed the U.S. economy expanded at a slightly slower pace than initially estimated in the third quarter. Gross domestic product grew at a 2.0% annual rate in the third quarter, less than its previous estimate of 2.1%.

On Wednesday, the gains in equities continued in Asia. Australia's Santos and Woodside were each up about 3% while the energy sector gained 1.1%.

Brent oil prices were last up 0.6% at $36.34 a barrel.

Gold prices were down 0.1% at $1,073.00 a troy ounce.

Write to Chao Deng at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 22, 2015 20:41 ET (01:41 GMT)

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