Global Markets:
- Asian Stock Markets : Nikkei up 0.68%, Shanghai Composite down 0.22%, Hang Seng up 0.11%, ASX up 0.26%
- Commodities : Gold at $1342.40 (+0.04%), Silver at $16.50 (+0.16%), WTI Oil at $71.94 (-0.11%), Brent Oil at $66.98 (-0.13%)
- Rates : US 10-year yield at 2.821, UK 10-year yield at 1.453, Germany 10-year yield at 0.512
News & Data:
- (CNY) Trade Balance -30B vs 179B expected
- (NZD) Business NZ Manufacturing Index 52.2 vs 53.3 previous
- (USD) Unemployment Claims 233K vs 231K expected
- (CAD) NHPI m/m -0.20% vs 0.10% expected
- UK action in Syria nears after Theresa May wins Cabinet approval
- Would only join TPP if the deal were substantially better than the deal offered to Pres. Obama: Donald Trump
- Fed's Kashkari: We're not going to keep interest rates low to help the government run up debt
Markets Update:
Another mixed day for Asian equities today, as it pared early gains and caution crept in ahead of the US earnings season. Risk sentiment has bettered after President Trump clarified that while the US is weighing options of a US missile strike on Syria, it might not be completely forthcoming on this.
Chinese equities were lower today, in the wake of mixed data from China which showed March exports unexpectedly fell 2.7 percent from a year earlier while imports grew more than forecast.
ASX is mostly higher across sectors, with banks trading mixed. Japanese equities were supported in the weakness in the yen as a result of the improved risk sentiment. FX sensitive sectors like marine transportation was seen to be the major gainer in the process.
In FX, yen was at weekly lows to the dollar, after risk sentiment improved. Euro was largely flat. While Crude consolidated earlier strength early in the trade, it is expected to trade lower after President Trump’s clarification on Syria.
In other news, Bitcoin made 14.2% gains on Thursday, the largest daily gains in the past 4 months.
Upcoming Events:
- 02:00 PM GMT – (USD) Prelim UoM Consumer Sentiment
- &more…
