Global Markets:
- Asian Stock Markets : Nikkei up 3.13%, Shanghai Composite up 1.39%, Hang Seng up 0.75%, ASX up 1.87%
- Commodities : Gold at $1767.30 (+0.33%), Silver at $15.94 (+2.58%), Brent Oil at $32.16 (+1.32%), WTI Oil at $22.57 (+0.71%)
- Rates : US 10-year yield at 0.770, UK 10-year yield at 0.315, Germany 10-year yield at -0.332
News & Data:
- (CNY) Trade Balance 139B vs 175B expected
- (CNY) USD-Denominated Trade Balance 19.9B vs 19.7B expected
- (AUD) NAB Business Confidence -66 vs -2 previous
- Australia Business Confidence Plummets to Lowest Level on Record
- China approved early-stage human tests for two experimental vaccines
- New Zealand jobless rate could hit 26% if virus curbs extended: treasury
Markets Update:
Asian stocks were moving higher on Tuesday after China reported better-than-expected trade data for the month of March. In yuan terms, China’s imports rose an annual 2.4 percent in the month, beating expectations for a 7 percent drop. Imports declined 2.4 percent in February.
Exports fell 3.5 percent compared to the expected slide of 12.8 percent. Exports declined by 15.9 percent in February. The trade surplus for the month narrowed to CNY 130 billion from CNY 158.5 billion in February.
Japan’s Nikkei index jumped 3.1% percent to climb above 19,600 on hopes the coronavirus outbreak may be peaking in hard-hit cities around the world. Mainland Chinese stocks edged higher, with the Shanghai composite up 1.4% while the Shenzhen composite gained 1.8%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index advanced 0.75%. Shares in Australia also edged higher as they returned to trade following holidays on Friday and Monday, with the ASX 200 up 1.9%. Markets in India are closed on Tuesday for a holiday, but are expected to fall as the government announced an extension of the nationwide lockdown to May 3rd.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said that he was very close to completing a plan to reopen the country. However, some state governors have signalled that the decision on when to restart businesses lay with them. Elsewhere, Britain’s finance minister told colleagues the UK economy could shrink by up to 30% this quarter due to the coronavirus lockdown that has shuttered businesses.
In currencies, the dollar continued to extend losses on the back of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s massive new lending programme. The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was last at 99.169 after touching levels above 99.5 yesterday. In a sign of worries about struggling global demand, oil prices barely reacted to a global deal to cut output by a record amount of nearly 10% of world supply.
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