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OVERNIGHT MARKET SNAPSHOT
- SPI200 (Mar) overnight futures up 35 pts to 6206
- SP500 up 14.00 pts to 2822.48
- NASDAQ up 57.62 pts to 7688.53
- Dow Jones up 138.93 pts to 25,848.87
- FTSE100 up 42.85 pts to 7228.28
- DAX30 up 98.22 pts to 11,685.69
- GOLD futures US Session (April) up $7.80 to $1302.90 an ounce
- COPPER futures US Session (Comex May) up $0.0170 to $2.9080 a pound
- OIL futures US Session (Nymex April) down $0.09 to $58.52 a barrel
- CRB Index up 0.48 points to 183.87
- AUDUSD trading at 0.7085
- EURUSD trading at 1.1326
- GBPUSD trading at 1.3290
- USDJPY trading at 111.4800
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The US had a strong end to the week Friday as all three major Indexes finished in the green. Traders gained further confidence that a trade deal will be struck between China and the US after news from China’s state news agency said that Washington and Beijing were making further substantive progress on trade talks along with supporting upbeat comments from Trump. The DOW closed up 0.54% while the broader SP500 was up 0.50% and the Nasdaq also closed up 0.76%. In Europe, major indexes were buoyed by the positive news on trade and as UK lawmakers voted to request a delay in a potentially chaotic exit from the EU.
The USD was broadly lower against a basket of major currency pairs as it was dragged down by weak economic data. Even as the Fed holds steady, the USD is expected to see buying pressure as foreign capital flows into the US thanks to the higher interest rates than elsewhere in global markets. The weak USD helped the EUR, the AUD and the GBP rally although all three pairs backed off from the highs through the session into the close. The USDJPY was weaker as selling came in on the dollar and cleaned out some of the recent buyers.
Gold was buoyed by the weaker USD which saw the precious metal push back above the $1300 level into the close. Brexit uncertainty may still be seeing safe haven buyers interested in gold although US bond yields have eased as traders flow back into shares and take on more risk. Oil rebounded from an earlier selloff in the European session after traders expect OPEC to extend production cuts until the end of 2019. Rallies in the oil price have been capped as the US steps up its own exports in recent months while imposing sanctions on Venezuela and Iran to reduce their shipments to global markets. Copper saw a relative volatile and choppy session Friday as lows were rejected along with new highs as traders remain focused on China/US trade news and are happy to play the waiting game.
Cryptocurrencies edged higher on Friday although buying eased over the weekend as Bitcoin hovers just below the $4000 mark currently trading at $3995.1 down 0.04%. Ethereum is trading at $139.86 down 0.42% while Ripple is at $0.31695 down 0.36%.
The ASX200 ended the session Friday down 4.4 points to 6175.2 which meant the index ended down 28.6 points for the week. The Gold sector was a big looser for the day along with Metals and Mining and the Materials Sectors. Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones by 632 to 521 and 366 ended unchanged.
The ASX200 is expected to open up 35 points back to Fridays day session open. The SPI200 was led higher by a solid session in Europe and the US but may find sellers up at the 6215 resistance zone.
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ECONOMIC DATA OUT TODAY (AEDT)
JPY Revised Industrial Production 3:30pm
EUR Trade Balance 9pm
EUR German Buba Monthly Report 10pm
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SPI200 INTRADAY LEVELS TO WATCH
