Asian Stocks Extend Gains As Tech-Rally Overshadows China Stimulus Impact

Stocks in Asia extended their rally on Thursday as traders still digested the China stimulus package while eyeing the upcoming US GDP data. The gain in the region came after a mixed trade on Wall Street as investors assessed the housing-market data.

The equity benchmarks in Japan and South Korea were trading higher by over 2%. The Hang Seng was up 1.76% at 19,466, while Australia's S&P ASX 200 was up 0.74% at 8,186 as of 9:06 a.m. Future contracts in the US pointed to a higher start with the tech-heavy Nasdaq rising up to 0.55%.

A gauge of Asian tech stocks saw a renewed rally that helped them surge to a two-year high, according to Bloomberg.

The yen was steady after falling more than 1% against the dollar on Wednesday after Bank of Japan said it is in no rush to further increase interest rates.

In the rare high-level press conference earlier this week, interest rate cuts, liquidity for banks and incentives for homebuyers, were announced to revive China's economy. However, analysts said that this not enough for a sustained run.

"Unless these monetary and liquidity measures are also accompanied by some sort of demand-side measures," it is not clear if this will be enough for a sustained rally, Nomura said in a note.

Meanwhile, all eyes will be on the US GDP print, due Friday, to ascertain if the Federal Reserve was late in slashing its lending rates. Investors will look forward to a speech by Fed Chair Jerome Powell and price data later this week. 

Elsewhere, data release for the day includes industrial production in Singapore, machine tool orders in Japan and Hong Kong trade data. 

Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz said that rising tensions between the US and China are starting to upend global trade flows. This could post both an opportunity and a risk for the developing world, Bloomberg News reported.

New homes in the US fell last month but a separate data indicated that mortgage rates have dropped for the eighth consecutive week.

The S&P 500 and The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.19% and 0.70%, respectively. The Nasdaq Composite advanced by 0.04%.

Oil steadied after dropping the most in two weeks. Brent crude was trading 0.08% higher at $73.52 a barrel as of 6:03 a.m. IST. West Texas Intermediate was up 0.04% at $69.72.

• US Dollar Index at 100.90

• US 10-year bond yield at 3.78%.

• Brent crude down 0.08% at $73.52 per barrel.

• Bitcoin was 0.65% down at $63,074.75

• Gold spot was up 0.06% at $2,658.53