Asian equities made early trading gains on Thursday after a mixed session Wall Street buoyed by expectations of a U.S. stimulus package even as political events in Washington culminated in the impeachment of President Donald Trump.
U.S. Treasury yields posted their first full-session decline in 2021 after rising for six straight sessions as investors eyed more spending by the incoming U.S. administration.
The benchmark S&P 500 had closed slightly higher driven by rate-sensitive defensive sectors such as utilities and real estate, while economically sensitive cyclical sectors lagged.
"There this push-pull relationship between what happens in the bond market and equity markets," said Charlie Ripley, senior investment strategist at Allianz Investment Management.