In economy
On Monday , MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan partially recovering from a sharp fall last Friday added 0.3%, . Asian Indices firmed as investors dared to hope for both progress at China-U.S. trade talks in Washington this week and more policy stimulus from major central banks.
Japan’s Nikkei climbed 1.6% to hit its highest for the year so far, while Australia’s main index rose 0.7%. E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 were flat, with trade thinned by a holiday in U.S. markets.
The Dow and the Nasdaq had boasted their eighth consecutive weekly gains on wagers the United States and China would hammer out an agreement resolving their protracted trade war.
The two sides will resume negotiations this week with U.S. President Donald Trump saying he may extend a March 1 deadline for a deal. Both reported progress in five days of talks in Beijing last week.
There are also growing expectations of more reflationary policies from some of the world’s more powerful central banks.
Data out last week showed China’s banks made the most new loans on record in January as policymakers tried to jumpstart sluggish investment.
Minutes of the Federal Reserve’s last policy meeting are due on Wednesday and should provide more guidance on the likelihood or not for rate hikes this year. There is also talk the bank will keep a much larger balance sheet than previously planned.
The European Central Bank’s Olli Rehn told a German newspaper on Sunday that recent data point to a weakening euro zone economy and interest rates would remain at the current level until monetary policy goals have been met.
In currency market
The dollar at 96.924 on a basket of currencies, after hitting its highest since mid-December at 97.368 last week.
The EURUSD was last at $1.1290 and still within the $1.1213/1.1570 trading range that has held since mid-October.
The dollar was steady on the yen at 110.50, having backed away from a two-month top of 111.12.
The GBPUSD was a shade firmer at $1.2901 ahead of Brexit talks between British Prime Minister Theresa May and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker this week.
The People's Bank of China (PBOC) set the yuan reference rate at 6.7659 vs Friday's fix of 6.7623
In commodity market
Gold Spot was steady at $1,327.95 per ounce. Gold prices ended higher on Friday, hitting a two-week peak up at $1,322.56/oz spot.
Oil prices were at their highest for the year so far this year after an outage at Saudi Arabia’s offshore oilfield boosted expectations for tightening supply. U.S. crude was last up 22 cents at $56.20 a barrel, while Brent crude futures rose to $66.17.
Comments