Global Markets:
- Asian Stock Markets : Nikkei up 0.32%, Shanghai Composite down 0.92%, Hang Seng down 1.32%, ASX up 0.37%
- Commodities : Gold at $1514.15 (+0.02%), Silver at $17.65 (-0.16%), Brent Oil at $57.93 (+0.38%), WTI Oil at $52.63 (+0.34%)
- Rates : US 10-year yield at 1.527, UK 10-year yield at 0.452, Germany 10-year yield at -0.600
News & Data:
- (AUD) Retail Sales m/m 0.40% vs 0.50% expected
- (USD) ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI 52.6 vs 55.1 expected
- (GBP) Services PMI 49.5 vs 50.3 expected
- (AUD) Trade Balance 5.93B vs 6.00B expected
- BOJ Wants to Get Out of Negative Rates, Deputy Governor Wakatabe Says
- EU Tells Boris Johnson: You Have One Week To Make A Better Offer
Markets Update:
Asian stock markets are mixed on Friday despite the overnight gains on Wall Street after two days of significant losses amid optimism that the U.S. Federal Reserve will cut interest rates later in October. Investors turned cautious ahead of the release of the U.S. Labor Department’s closely-watched monthly jobs report for September later in the day.
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong slipped 0.54% by the afternoon, amid reports that the city’s government is set to discuss potential emergency regulation to ban face masks in protests. The embattled city has been rocked by weeks of protests that have periodically degenerated into violence. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 recovered from an earlier slip to rise 0.1% in afternoon trade, while the Topix index also made a turnaround as it advanced 0.3%.
Over in South Korea, the Kospi was fractionally higher as shares of industry heavyweight and Samsung Electronics and chipmaker SK Hynix rose at least 1% each. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 traded 0.42% higher as shares of biotechnology firm CSL surged 2.97%. The moves came as Australian retail sales data for August came in below expectations but higher than the previous month.
The two-year yield, which tracks expectations for U.S. monetary policy, rose slightly to 1.3956% in Asia but was still close to a two-year low of 1.3680%. Traders see a 85.2% chance the Fed will cut rates by 25 basis points to 1.75%-2.00% in October, up from 39.6% on Monday, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool.
The dollar edged down to 106.81 yen , close to a one-month low of 106.48 yen reached on Thursday. The euro was a shade higher at $1.0974, near a one-week high. U.S. Oil futures on Thursday touched the lowest in nearly two months as the weak U.S. economic data heightened concerns that excess supplies will push prices lower.
Upcoming Events:
- 12:30 PM GMT – (CAD) Trade Balance
- 12:30 PM GMT – (USD) Average Hourly Earnings m/m
- 12:30 PM GMT – (USD) Non-Farm Employment Change
- 12:30 PM GMT – (USD) Unemployment Rate
- 12:30 PM GMT – (USD) FOMC Member Rosengren Speaks
- 06:00 PM GMT – (USD) Fed Chair Powell Speaks
