HONG KONG: Asian markets rallied Thursday as investors breathed a sigh of relief that the United States looked set to avert a catastrophic debt default after Republicans offered a deal to raise the country's borrowing limit.
Joe Biden and Xi Jinping's decision to hold a virtual meeting also provided a much-needed boost to trading floors that have been starved of good news in recent weeks as they battle a string of problems including surging inflation, an expected taper of monetary policy and a growing energy crisis.
With just days to go before the United States runs out of cash, top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell proposed a truce, meaning Democrats can vote to hike the debt ceiling and allowing the government to pay its bills until December.
Asian markets slip as inflation, default compound virus worries
Democrats indicated their support for the move, which would mean avoiding missing US repayment obligations, which many experts and top officials including Biden and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had warned would tip the economy into recession and cause another financial crisis.
"We're going to pay our debts, we have two months to figure out where we go from here," Democratic Senate budget chairman Bernie Sanders said.
The offer removed an increasingly dark cloud from over markets and sent Wall Street's three main indexes jumping out of a slumber to close Wednesday in positive territory.
And Asia picked up the baton on Thursday, with Hong Kong up more than two percent, while Tokyo, Singapore, Seoul and Taipei all put on more than one percent. Sydney and Manila were also in the green.
However, observers pointed out that the deal is only a reprieve and lines up a similar standoff in two months.
And White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki urged Republicans not to "kick the can down the road".
News that Biden and Xi would hold direct talks by the year's end -- albeit online -- added some optimism, raising hopes for a thawing of an increasingly frosty relationship between the superpowers.
Caution remains
That followed a six-hour meeting between US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and China's top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, in Zurich.
Concerns about an energy crunch were also eased very slightly Wednesday after the US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm suggested unlocking some of the country's vast crude reserves to keep a lid on prices, which this week hit seven high highs.
The cost of a barrel of oil has roared higher as the global economy reopens from Covid-19 lockdowns, while the approaching northern hemisphere winter has led to the price of natural gas to double from last month, forcing suppliers to seek out crude as a cheaper alternative.
OPEC's decision not to open the taps further has added to the problems.
The run-up in the energy market has ramped up fears that inflation -- already surging owing to the global recovery and supply bottlenecks -- will continue to spike higher, forcing central banks to wind in their ultra-loose monetary policies earlier than envisaged to prevent prices running out of control.
All eyes are on the Federal Reserve, which has signalled it will begin tapering its bond-buying programme before the end of the year, bringing an end to the easy money that has helped drive the global equity and economic rebound.
A forecast-beating private jobs report Wednesday lifted expectations for a key government report at the end of the week. A strong reading on Friday will all but guarantee the tightening cycle will begin next month, analysts said.
Still, analysts remained cautious in light of recent hefty losses across world markets in recent weeks.
"We have several things that we are watching right now -- certainly the debt ceiling is one of them and that's been contributing to the recent volatility," Tracie McMillion, at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, told Bloomberg Television.
Key figures around 0230 GMT
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.7 percent at 27,990.32 (break)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 2.1 percent at 24,466.39
Shanghai - Composite: Closed for a holiday
Dollar/yen: UP at 111.48 yen from 111.41 yen at 2040 GMT
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1556 from $1.1562
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3582 from $1.3587
Euro/pound: UP at 85.09 from 85.07 pence
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.0 percent at $76.69 per barrel
Brent North Sea crude: DOWN 0.6 percent at $80.63 per barrel
New York - Dow: UP 0.3 percent at 34,416.99 (close)
London - FTSE 100: DOWN 1.2 percent at 6,995.87 (close)
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