Global Markets:
- Asian Stock Markets : Nikkei down 0.14%, Shanghai Composite down 0.71%, Hang Seng down 0.39%, ASX up 0.21%
- Commodities : Gold at $1577.95 (+0.40%), Silver at $17.62 (+0.69%), Brent Oil at $55.62 (-0.30%), WTI Oil at $51.16 (-0.02%)
- Rates : US 10-year yield at 1.590, UK 10-year yield at 0.614, Germany 10-year yield at -0.404
News & Data:
- (JPY) PPI y/y 1.70% vs 1.50% expected
- (USD) Federal Budget Balance -32.6B vs -10.7B expected
- (USD) 10-y Bond Auction 1.62|2.6 vs 1.87|2.4 previous
- (USD) Crude Oil Inventories 7.5M vs 3.1M expected
- (GBP) CB Leading Index m/m 0.00% vs -0.20% previous
- (EUR) German 10-y Bond Auction -0.38|1.2 vs -0.25|1.2 previous
- (EUR) Industrial Production m/m -2.10% vs -1.80% expected
Markets Update:
Asian stock markets are mixed on Thursday despite the positive cues overnight from Wall Street and higher commodity prices. Investors are cautious after China’s Hubei province, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, reported a sharp increase in the number of new coronavirus cases.
Hubei province reported an additional 242 deaths and 14,480 new cases related to the coronavirus, as of February 12. However, the province said the increase came after officials adopted a new methodology for counting infections.
Mainland Chinese stocks reversed earlier gains and remained lower by the afternoon, with the Shanghai composite and the Shenzhen component both declining about 0.7%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index shed 0.4%. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.1% in afternoon trade while the Topix index was 0.3% lower. Shares of conglomerate Softbank Group declined after Wednesday’s blockbuster surge, falling more than 2.5% in afternoon trade, with the moves on Thursday coming after the firm posted a near wipe out of its quarterly profit. Meanwhile, South Korea’s Kospi added 0.2% as shares of chipmaker SK Hynix surged more than 2%. Stocks in Australia were also higher, with the S&P/ASX 200 up 0.2%.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was last at 99.007 after an earlier low of 98.980. The Japanese yen, often seen as a safe-haven currency in times of economic uncertainty, traded at 109.88 per dollar following an earlier low of 110.09.
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