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GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian shares poised for 7th month of gains; dollar firm
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GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian shares poised for 7th month of gains; dollar firm
Mar 10, 2026 8:42 PM

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Earnings from Amazon ( AMZN ), Apple ( AAPL ) lift Nasdaq futures by 1.1%

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Nikkei heads for 16% monthly gain, best since 1990

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Chinese shares lose ground after trade truce, dismal PMI

data

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Dollar near 3-month highs, oil down for three months

(Updates prices before European open)

By Stella Qiu

SYDNEY, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Asian shares looked set for a

seventh straight month of gains on Friday after upbeat earnings

from Amazon ( AMZN ) and Apple ( AAPL ) buoyed Wall Street futures, while the

dollar hovered near three-month highs on uncertainty over

further Federal Reserve rate cuts.

European stock futures were, however, bracing for a lower

open, with EURO STOXX 50 futures down 0.2% and FTSE

futures 0.3% lower.

Nasdaq futures jumped 1.1% and S&P 500 futures

gained 0.6% as Amazon's ( AMZN ) stellar earnings sent its

shares up a staggering 13% after the bell, which added over $300

billion to its market value. Apple ( AAPL ) rose 2.3% after its

outlook on iPhone sales topped estimates.

That offset the drag from Meta and Microsoft ( MSFT )

overnight amid worries over their surging AI spending.

Six of the "Magnificent Seven" U.S. tech megacaps have now

reported and the results have been mixed. Nvidia, the world's

first $5 trillion company, is due to report in three weeks.

"Profit growth in tech companies remains incredibly strong

but will moderate, so tech stocks are likely to have a bit of a

pullback especially on high valuations," said Diana Mousina,

deputy chief economist at AMP.

"Despite some wobbles recently, Mag 7 U.S. tech stocks have

still outperformed the S&P 500 since the beginning of the year."

Japan's Nikkei rallied 1.9% on Friday, boosting

its weekly and monthly gains to 6% and 16.4%, respectively. That

was the largest monthly rise since 1990, turbocharged by hopes

for aggressive fiscal stimulus under new Prime Minister Sanae

Takaichi.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside

Japan slipped 0.4% on Friday, weighed by losses

in Chinese stocks. Still, the index was poised for a weekly gain

of 1% and a monthly rise of 4%.

Chinese blue chips skidded 1.2% and Hong

Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.9% after data showed

China's factory activity contracted at the fastest pace in six

months in October.

Investors also locked in gains after a

trade truce

reached by U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese

President Xi Jinping on Thursday, which led to reduced U.S.

tariffs on imports of Chinese goods, resumed U.S. soybean

purchases by Beijing and continued rare earth exports from

China.

This week, major central bank meetings have delivered

decisions that were largely in line with expectations, with the

biggest surprise coming from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell

who pushed back against the market's sanguine view about a rate

cut in December.

Treasuries were steady on Friday, but were set for

weekly losses. Two-year Treasury yields were flat at

3.6085%, having risen 12 basis points this week already, while

the 10-year yield was steady at 4.0969% and up 10

bps for the week.

The rise in yields offered support to the U.S. dollar

, which was holding near three-month highs at 99.5 against

its major peers, although resistance seems heavy at 99.564 and

100.25.

The euro was flat at $1.1569 after the European

Central Bank kept interest rates unchanged at 2% for the third

meeting in a row on Thursday and repeated that policy was in a

"good place" as economic risks recede.

Oil prices fell and were headed for a third straight month

of declines as a stronger dollar capped commodities gains and

rising supply from major producers offset the impact of Western

sanctions on Russian exports.

Brent crude futures slipped 0.9% to $64.55 a barrel,

while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $60.10,

down 0.8%.

Spot gold prices retraced some of the overnight gains

and were down 0.3% to $4,008 per ounce. They were down 2.5% for

the week and well below the record high of $4,381 hit just last

week.

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