ECONOMY
On Tuesday , Asian Indices subdued start as investors braced for key events later in the week, including the kick-off of the U.S. earnings season and a crucial Brexit summit, while broader concerns over slowing global growth checked sentiment.
Concerns over slowing U.S. earnings have undermined U.S. equities in recent sessions, though a strong jobs report last week helped to soothe frayed nerves.
The S&P 500, however, moved on its own momentum for its eight straight session of gains and the longest winning streak since October 2017, as rallying crude prices lifted energy shares.
Investors will also focus on a European Central Bank meeting on Wednesday and the start in earnest of the U.S. first-quarter earnings period, with analysts now expecting it to be the first quarter of contracting corporate earnings since 2016.
U.S. March inflation figures and minutes of the Federal Reserve’s last policy meeting are due to be released on Wednesday. Friday’s U.S. jobs report showed strong employment creation but subdued wages growth, backing the Fed’s recent dovish policy tilt.
The BJP and its allies are expected to win 267 of the 543 parliament seats at stake, the CVoter polling agency said, just five short of the halfway mark required to rule. The latest estimate is down sharply from the alliance’s current tally of 330 seats secured when Modi swept to power in 2014, promising to transform Asia’s third-largest economy.
CURRENCY
On Tuesday, The dollar sagged after weak U.S. economic data while commodity-linked currencies such as the Canadian and Australian dollars drew support from an ongoing surge in crude oil prices.
The euro held steady at $1.1265 after rising nearly 0.4% overnight, its steepest one-day rise in nearly three-weeks.
Sterling was slightly higher at $1.3076, but not far from last month’s low of $1.2945.
The Japanese yen, the dollar was down 0.1% at 111.35 yen, inching back toward its 1-1/2-month low of 109.70 touched on March 25.
AUD/USD: Sellers keep lurking around 0.7130 ahead of Australian housing finance data.
PBoC fixes USDCNY reference rate at 6.7142 (prev fix 6.7201 prev close 6.7165).
EM ASIA FX-Most steady, S.Korean won gains most.
COMMODITY
Oil prices rose to their highest since November 2018, Overnight prices rose up to 2% driven by fighting in Libya along with ongoing supply cuts pledged by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and U.S. sanctions against Iran and Venezuela.
U.S. crude was last up 21 cents at $64.61 a barrel, after brushing its highest since Nov. 1 last year. Brent crude futures rose 8 cents to $71.18.
Spot gold was up slightly at $1,299.10 per ounce.
Malaysian palm oil futures retreated from a six-week top on Monday evening, falling over 1 percent to snap five sessions of gains, tracking weaker soybean oil prices on the U.S. Chicago Board of Trade and in a technical correction.
U.S. corn futures declined on Monday as traders adjusted positions a day ahead of a monthly supply-and-demand report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture in which the government is expected to raise its forecast of U.S. corn ending stocks.
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