Asian shares hold onto earlier gains as US midterms play out as expected
Tokyo — Wall Street stock futures and Asian shares held earlier gains on Wednesday after Democrats won control of the US House of Representatives, boosting the party’s ability to block President Donald Trump’s political and economic agenda. The Democrats’ House win creates a clear hurdle for Republicans to easily pass legislation through both chambers of Congress, clouding the outlook for some of Trump’s key economic proposals. In Asian trade, major broadcasters projected the Democrats would wrest House control, while the Republicans were seen retaining the Senate. While both outcomes were broadly in line with market expectations, a reason markets did not sell off, the prospect of political gridlock creates some uncertainty for investors. The dollar weakened against most of its major counterparts. In equities markets, US S&P500 futures rose 0.3%, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.3% and Japan’s Nikkei gained 1.2%. “It has clearly become difficult for ...
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