ASIA RALLY ON POSITIVE DATA, OIL YEAR HIGH, YIELDS RECOVER

ECONOMY

On Tuesday , Asia Indices extended their rally as factory activity surveys from China and the United States boosted investor confidence, triggering the largest one-day sell-off in the U.S. Treasury market in nearly three months. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.3% to a seven-month high after rallying more than one percent in the previous session.
On Monday , Wall Street shares jumped, Investors cheered U.S. data overnight showing improvements in manufacturing activity last month and construction spending for February, which overshadowed an unexpected drop in retail sales.
The encouraging data on manufacturing activity in the world’s two biggest economies led to a wobbly start to the U.S. bond market, with the U.S. benchmark 10-year Treasury note yields booking their largest single-day jump since Jan. 4.
British lawmakers came no nearer to resolving the chaos surrounding the country’s departure from the European Union. The British parliament failed on Monday to find a majority of its own for any alternative to Prime Minister Theresa May’s divorce deal.

The Sterling was last down 0.27% at $1.3063, not far from last month’s low of $1.2945.
The euro struggled near a three-week low of $1.1204 brushed early on Tuesday, and was last trading down a tenth of a percent at $1.1204.
Against the Japanese yen, the dollar was down a tad at 111.33 yen, but 1.5% above its 1-1/2-month low of 109.70 touched on March 25.
The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield overnight jumped to a more than one-week high of 2.502 percent, moving off a 15-month low of 2.340 percent touched on March 25. The rise pushed the yield curve between three-month U.S. Treasury bills and 10-year notes further into positive territory, after being inverted for a week until last Friday.

On Tuesday , Oil prices rose to fresh highs for the year , after a U.S. official said Washington is considering more sanctions on Iran and a key Venezuelan export terminal halted operations.
U.S. crude futures traded at $61.92 per barrel, up 0.50% on the day. Brent futures were up 0.4% at $69.28 a barrel.
Gold was 0.15 percent higher at $1,289.10.