Global Markets:
- Asian Stock Markets : Nikkei down 0.33%, Shanghai Composite down 0.21%, Hang Seng down 0.55%, ASX up 0.94%
- Commodities : Gold at $1271.85 (-0.11%), Silver at $14.76 (-0.22%), Brent Oil at $74.23 (-0.38%), WTI Oil at $66.01 (-0.44%)
- Rates : US 10-year yield at 2.554, UK 10-year yield at 1.225, Germany 10-year yield at 0.025
News & Data:
- (AUD) Trimmed Mean CPI q/q 0.30% vs 0.40% expected
- (AUD) CPI q/q 0.00% vs 0.20% expected
- Abe, Macron discuss G20 summit, trade, Nissan-Renault alliance, N Korea, Notre Dame
- China central bank likely to pause reserve cuts, but policy easing on track: sources
- Spanish elections preview: 5 scenarios, mostly EUR/USD positive, at least at some point
Markets Update:
Asian stock markets are mostly higher on Wednesday following the record closing highs overnight on Wall Street amid upbeat corporate earnings results.
Investors also digested news that the U.S. will send a high-level delegation to China next week to continue trade talks between the world’s two largest economies. Crude oil prices retreated in Asian trades from near six-month highs overnight.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan slipped 0.3% in afternoon trade, despite shares of index heavyweight Fast Retailing rising. The Topix index was 0.6% lower. Mainland Chinese shares also slipped by the afternoon, with the Shanghai composite declining 0.2% and the Shenzhen component shedding about 0.53%. Bucking the trend, Australia’s ASX 200 added 0.9%, trading at more than 10-year highs as the sectors mostly advanced. In South Korea, the Kospi dropped 0.9%, with chipmaker SK Hynix falling almost 4%.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, gained 0.04 percent to 97.676, near a 22-month high, following strong U.S. housing data. Oil prices surged after the United States ended six months of waivers that allowed Iran’s eight biggest buyers, most of them in Asia, to continue importing limited volumes of Iranian oil.
Gulf OPEC members said that rather than offset any shortfall resulting from the U.S. decision on waivers, they would raise output only if there was demand.
Upcoming Events:
- 09:00 AM GMT – (EUR) German Ifo Business Climate
- 09:30 AM GMT – (GBP) Public Sector Net Borrowing
- 03:00 PM GMT – (CAD) BOC Monetary Policy Report
- 03:00 PM GMT – (CAD) BOC Rate Statement
- 03:00 PM GMT – (CAD) Overnight Rate
- 04:15 PM GMT – (CAD) BOC Press Conference
- &more…
