By Suzanne Barlyn
NEW YORK, Oct 12 (Reuters) – Asian stocks were set to rise on Tuesday as a renewed tech rally and fresh optimism that Washington would deliver a coronavirus relief package helped lift global equity markets.
Shares in Apple Inc AAPL.O surged 6.4% on Wall Street on Monday ahead of an expected debut of its latest iPhone on Tuesday, helping boost technology stocks, while Amazon AMZN.O rallied 4.8% ahead of its Prime Day shopping event this week.
CommSec Senior Economist Ryan Felsman said a COVID-19 resurgence in Europe and the United States is partly fueling the tech rally.
“Once again, there is a desire to hold the stay-at-home types of technology stocks…which will still generate profits and will be greatly oriented to a more challenging economic environment,” Felsman said.
On Wall Street, the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC on Monday staged its biggest one-day rally in a month, jumping 2.56%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 0.88% and the S&P 500 .SPX gained 1.64%.
The U.S. dollar was pinned near a three-week low and gold, another safe-haven asset, stayed below a three-week high, slapped by investor demand for risk. The U.S. bond market is closed on Monday for Columbus Day.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS closed 0.11% higher.
Australian S&P/ASX 200 futures YAPcm1 rose 1.05% in early trading. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures .HSIHSIc1 rose 0.11%.
E-mini futures for the S&P 500 EScv1 rose 0.01%.
The dollar index =USD fell 0.078%, with the euro EUR= unchanged at $1.1813.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX rose 0.72% and MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS gained 0.01%.
Bets that more U.S. stimulus was in the offing came despite signs that talks in Washington had stalled again, leading the Trump administration to call