Asian shares, US futures rise on debt ceiling deal

SYDNEY, May 29 (Reuters) – Asian shares and US stock futures rose on Monday, buoyed by a weekend deal by US President Joe Biden and congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy to suspend the government’s debt ceiling, ending a months-long stalemate and angst for investors.

After weeks of negotiations, McCarthy and Biden forged an agreement late on Saturday to avert an economically destabilizing default to suspend the USD 31.4 trillion debt ceiling until 2025. The deal will now have to pass through the narrowly divided Congress.

The positive news lifted S&P 500 futures ESc1 0.4% in early trade while Nasdaq futures NQc1 firmed 0.6%. Nikkei surged 1.9% to a fresh 33-year high and Australia’s resources-heavy shares gained 0.6%.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.3%.

“Asian markets should start the week on the front foot, but for the US equity markets… futures have opened stronger this morning, but we need to see the deal being passed for the next leg higher,” said Tony Sycamore, market analyst at IG.

“Yes, we will get the relief rally in the short-term but then we have to start thinking about the June FOMC meeting, about inflation being stickier than expected, and the money being drained out of the (share) markets.”

Cash US Treasuries were untraded in Asia on Monday, owing to the Memorial Day holiday, while futures were broadly steady. Ten-year futures’ TNc1 implied yield was 3.84%.

On Friday, the Federal Reserve’s preferred gauge of inflation – the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index – came in stronger than expected, with markets now leaning towards a quarter-point hike from the Fed next month and seeing rates staying there for the rest of the year.

In Turkey, the lira hovered at 20.04 against the dollar, just a touch above its record low of 20.06 hit on Friday, after President Tayyip Erdogan secured victory in the country’s presidential election, extending his increasingly authoritarian rule into a third decade.

Elsewhere in the currency markets, the dollar index – a measure of the greenback against its major peers – was solidly placed at 104.26, close to a two-month high hit on Friday.

The yen slumped to a fresh six-month low of 140.89 per dollar in early trade, the euro nursed losses around a two-month trough of USD 1.0721 and the Aussie hovered at USD 0.6527, just a touch above a six-month low hit on Friday.

Oil prices rose early Monday. Brent crude futures climbed 39 cents, or 0.5%, to USD 77.34 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude was at USD 73.12 a barrel, up 45 cents, or 0.6%.

Gold prices were 0.1% lower at USD 1,943.69 per ounce.

(Editing by Shri Navaratnam)