Talking Points:
- Most Asian stocks managed to rise Thursday
- The US Dollar was back up against the Japanese Yen in a forex market generally subdued before US payroll data
- A trade-surplus beat failed to support the Australian Dollar much
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Asian stocks were mostly higher Thursday- following some resilience on Wall Street- as investors were prepared to believe that the trade spat between China and the US won’t morph into a full-scale trade war.
China announced potential tariffs on a broad range of US imports Wednesday, in retaliation for the US proposing higher barriers for over 1,000 Chinese goods. However, markets remain hopeful that negotiations between the global tightens can prevent escalation. President Donald Trump’s Economic Advisor Larry Kudlow said that the two sides were involved in negotiation, rather than engaged in a trade war.
At any rate US stocks managed to finish in the green Wednesday, having been well down at one point. And in Asia Thursday the Nikkei 225 added 1.5% and the Kospi 1%, while the ASX 200 rose by 0.5%. Stocks in Shanghai and Hong Kong were lower, but both had bucked the overall trend by rising in the previous session.
Technically speaking the Nikkei has bounced quite convincingly at a key support level, but now has the highs of Mid-March blocking its way higher.
The US Dollar inched back up against the Japanese Yen and was steady against both the Australian and New Zealand Dollars. The Aussie didn’t get a huge boost from news of a bigger-than-expected trade surplus, but the approach of Friday’s official US labour-market numbers usually keeps currency trade subdued.
Gold prices slipped as overall risk aversion declined while crude oil prices gained on news of a US stock drawdown.
Still to come Thursday are Purchasing Managers Index data from around Europe and weekly jobless claim numbers out of the US.
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--- Written by David Cottle, DailyFX Research
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