Global Markets:
- Asian stock markets: Nikkei up 0.32 %, Shanghai Composite rose 0.28 %, Hang Seng gained 0.39 %, ASX 200 up 0.87 %
- Commodities: Gold at $1270.82 (-0.19 %), Silver at $16.63 (-0.03 %), WTI Oil at $50.70 (-0.18 %), Brent Oil at $56.94 (-0.14 %)
- Rates: US 10-year yield at 2.35, UK 10-year yield at 1.39, German 10-year yield at 0.45
News & Data:
- (JPY) Average Cash Earnings y/y 0.9 % vs 0.5 % expected
- (AUD) AIG Construction Index 54.7 vs 55.3 previous
- (CAD) Trade Balance -3.4 B vs -2.6 B expected
- (USD) Unemployment Claims 260 K vs 266 K expected
- (USD) Trade Balance -42.4 B vs -42.7 B expected
- (USD) Factory Orders m/m 1.2 % vs 1.0 % expected
- Oil markets wary as another tropical storm heads for Gulf of Mexico
- Japan, U.S. to hold second round of economic dialogue on October 16 – RTRS
Markets Update:
Equity markets across the Asia-Pacific region opened higher on Friday. Hong Kong’s benchmark index, Hang Seng briefly reached its best level in a decade and Japan’s Nikkei moved closer to levels last seen in 1996. Optimism over U.S. tax reform plans lifted Wall Street shares to new highs yesterday, and the dollar hovered near a seven-week peak as new indicators pointed to solid economic growth.
USDJPY was mostly flat earlier today trading around a tight range near 112.85, before climbing to highs of 113.00 recently. We got some labour market data from Japan today with the Average cash earnings climbing to 0.9 % from the expected 0.5 %. Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average Nikkei 225 rose 0.3% to set another 26-month high, helped by the dollar rising against the Yen overnight.
EURUSD dropped over 30 pips on back of a strong US Dollar from session highs of 1.1715 and is currently seen trading around 1.1690 close to its near 2-month low. This is in continuation to the Euro losing 0.4 percent against the USD on Wednesday. The dollar index, which tracks the dollar against a basket of currencies increased 0.6 percent and is currently valued at 94.10
AUDUSD is currently seen trading around 0.7750 as the Australian dollar slipped 0.6 percent against the US Dollar extending its falls from yesterday post a dreadful retail sales data. In addition to this the Morgan Stanley mentioned earlier today that the Australian credit crunch has begun. Meanwhile, the New Zealand dollar is seen trading around 0.7093 after falling 0.3% against the US Dollar.
Upcoming Events:
- All Day – (CNY) Chinese Bank Holiday
- 07:30 GMT – (GBP) Halifax HPI m/m
- 12:00 GMT – (GBP) MPC Member Haldane Speaks
- 12:30 GMT – (CAD) Employment Change
- 12:30 GMT – (CAD) Unemployment Rate
- 12:30 GMT – (USD) Average Hourly Earnings m/m
- 12:30 GMT – (USD) Non-Farm Employment Change
- 12:30 GMT – (USD) Unemployment Rate
- 14:00 GMT – (CAD) Ivey PMI
- 16:15 GMT – (USD) FOMC Member Dudley Speaks
- 16:45 GMT – (USD) FOMC Member Kaplan Speaks
