published Dec 26, 2018 7:55:35 PM, by Christopher Anstey (Bloomberg) —

Asian stocks climbed on Thursday after the biggest rally in U.S. equities since 2009 offered relief from this month’s wrenching global market downturn.

Japanese benchmarks jumped well over 3 percent and Australian shares advanced more than 1 percent as trading resumed after holidays there. However, Korean stocks were flat, Hong Kong saw more modest gains and U.S. futures dipped, suggesting the follow-through from the blow-out session on Wall Street has limits. American benchmarks soared 5 percent or more Wednesday on signs of robust consumer spending, easing concern about the tenure of the Federal Reserve chief and progress on U.S.-China trade talks.

Elsewhere, crude oil prices gave up a slice of the gains of more than 8 percent overnight. Ten-year Treasury yields are holding around 2.80 percent. The yen recouped some of yesterday’s losses against the dollar.

Just one of the S&P 500 members fell on Wednesday, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped more than 1,050 points for its biggest-ever point gain. Consumer shares paced the rally, with Amazon.com Inc. jumping 9.5 percent on record holiday sales. Each member of the FAANG cohort rallied at least 6.4 percent. Nike and Apple rose more than 7 percent.

Yet it’s still a horrible month for U.S. stocks, with the S&P 500 down almost 11 percent. Japan’s Topix is even worse, with a 14 percent slide. Emerging markets have done better, thanks to expectations of less aggressive tightening by the Fed. The Shanghai Composite is off less than 4 percent, for example. And China’s yuan, along with most major Asian currencies, is up against the dollar this month.

“We could still be choppy here and in a bit of a trading range” for stocks, Matt Miskin, a market strategist at John Hancock Financial Services, told Bloomberg Radio. “You’re getting whipsawed from all this different information hitting the markets,” he said. For the S&P 500, he said “we do not see a real sustainable breakout past the prior highs in the near term.”

A report that a U.S. government delegation will travel to Beijing in two weeks to hold trade talks gave stocks a final push higher on Wall Street. Investors had earlier welcomed White House adviser Kevin Hassett’s assurance that Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s job is “100 percent” safe.

Futures on European equity benchmarks were mixed in Asia. Trading in the U.K. and Europe will resume after a two-day holiday. Read more on the latest twists and turns: Plenty of  big rallies occurred during a bear-market downturn A history of U.S. presidential comments on stocks Insiders are  pouring money into equities Three  crazy statistics on a wild day of trading Valuations tumbled before the Wednesday rally

And see more analysis in our Markets Live blog.

Here are some events investors may focus on in coming days: U.S. new-home sales are due Thursday. Baker Hughes releases its weekly data on active U.S. oil rigs on Friday. Monday is year end. Brazil’s new president is sworn in on Tuesday.

And these are the main moves in markets:

Stocks

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 1.6 percent as of 10:53 a.m. in Tokyo. Japan’s Topix gained 3.9 percent and the Nikkei 225 rose 3.3 percent. Futures on the S&P 500 Index dipped 0.5 percent. The underlying gauge rose 5 percent at the close in New York, after falling within two points of a bear market earlier in the session. The Nasdaq 100 surged 6.2 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 1,086 points. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.3 percent. Kospi rose 0.2 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 0.4 percent. The Shanghai Composite rose 0.6 percent.

Currencies

The Japanese yen gained 0.4 percent to 110.93 per dollar after sliding almost 1 percent Wednesday. The euro climbed 0.2 percent to $1.1375. China’s offshore yuan was little changed at 6.8940 per dollar. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index dipped 0.1 percent.

Bonds

The yield on 10-year Treasuries was at 2.80 percent after climbing almost 7 basis points Wednesday Japanese 10-year government bond yields edged away from zero, at 0.03 percent. Australia’s 10-year yields were at 2.38 percent.

Commodities

West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.1 percent to $45.72 a barrel after gaining 8.7 percent Wednesday. Gold rose 0.3 percent to $1,271.40 an ounce.