SHANGHAI: Asian stocks rose in early trade on Thursday following a second day of gains on global share markets amid easing investor concern over the impact from the U.S.-China trade war, but markets remained cautious.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.05 percent in early trade in Asia, taking support from Wall Street overnight.
Japan's Nikkei stock index was 0.2 percent higher, while Australian shares eased 0.3 percent.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average <.DJI> ended 0.61 percent higher on Wednesday at 26,405.76, its highest close since late January, while the S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 0.13 percent to 2,907.95.
The Nasdaq Composite dropped less than 0.1 percent, to 7,950.04, pulled down by a fall in Microsoft
U.S. shares had been boosted by expectations that the impact of the Sino-U.S. trade war would be smaller than feared, with the U.S. fiscal policy package potentially outweighing any negative impact.
But analysts at Citi cautioned in a note that housing data out this week showed signs of weakness despite a headline jump.
Citi said housing starts had been strong, but building permits - a indicator of future activity - were at their lowest since May 2017.
"The housing market remains a specific point of weakness in the U.S. economy and while not in focus, it could be important... housing data on Tuesday wasn't encouraging on net."
The rally in global stocks has been accompanied by falls in U.S. bonds and the Japanese yen. The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes
This week's rise in yields comes ahead of what is expected to be a hawkish meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve next week.
The two-year yield
The dollar was flat against the yen at 112.26
The dollar index <.DXY>, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was nearly unchanged at 94.558.
U.S. crude
That was the lowest level since February 2015.
Brent crude
A weakening dollar pushed up the price of gold on Wednesday, but the precious metal was flat on Thursday morning in Asia. Spot gold
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