Asia Pacific Markets Wrap Talking Points
- Equities higher in Asia, KOSPI gains as Samsung welcomes US ban of Huawei
- ASX 200 fails to find much upside momentum despite firming RBA rate cut bets
- FTSE 100 outlook bearish on brewing technical signals ahead of BoE speech
Find out what retail traders’ equities buy and sell decisions say about the coming price trend!
Top Asia Market Developments
Equities generally rose during Tuesday’s Asia Pacific trading session after earlier in the day, the US announced a temporary 90-day extension granted to Huawei before it gets blacklisted for national security reasons. This helped to ease tensions that have left markets in a state of anxiety given recent escalation in US-China trade war fears.
China’s Shanghai Composite performed well, rising more than 1.5% heading towards the close. Another solid performer due to the Huawei situation was South Korea’s benchmark KOSPI index (+0.9%). This was thanks to a more-than 4% surge in Samsung Electronics shares after M. S. Hwang, an analyst from the company, noted that a ban on Huawei could boost sales of their smartphones in Europe and China.
Elsewhere, the ASX 200 struggled to find upside momentum despite decidedly dovish RBA meeting minutes and commentary from Governor Philip Lowe. These two developments have greatly increased the probability that the central bank might deliver a rate cut in June. What is not much of a surprise is that AUD/USD inched closer to trimming this week’s upside gap following local federal elections.
The Remaining 24 Hours
A top-tier event risk over the remainder of the day will be an upcoming speech various Bank of England members, including Governor Mark Carney. Lately, fading confidence in a Brexit deal has extensively weakened the British Pound with the FTSE 100 down from April peaks. We shall see what policymakers have to say given how much the central bank has expressed interest in hiking that is only being clouded by EU-UK divorce talks.
FTSE 100 Technical Analysis
Looking at FTSE 100 daily chart below, we can see what appears to be the formation of a bearish head and shoulders pattern. The right shoulder could be created under 7360 if the index falls through what seems to be a key psychological barrier between 7267 and 7227. Countering this development is a bullish-contrarian signal from IG Client Sentiment readings, but this may change soon with 50% of net-positioning short.
Want to learn more about how trader positioning may drive the FTSE 100 and various other equities? Tune in each week for live sessions as I cover how sentiment can be used to identify prevailing market trends !
FTSE 100 Daily Chart
Chart Created in TradingView
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--- Written by Daniel Dubrovsky, Junior Currency Analyst for DailyFX.com
To contact Daniel, use the comments section below or @ddubrovskyFX on Twitter