A volatile start to the week after last week’s disappointing US data. Asian stocks are pushed down as investors sell their riskier assets. Weak PMI data from China shows an economy in contraction - and aided the bearish stock markets.
The HSBC Purchasing Managers Index a drop to 49.2 last month, from 50.4 in April. This comes just one day after the government released their PMI data, indicating a rise to 50.8 in May from 50.6 the previous month.
Over the weekend, the IMF announced that Japan’s currency is weak enough, which comes after earlier comments from the International Monetary Fund that the JPY was overvalued.
Stocks
Asian stocks continued their downward trend for the third day running. Japan’s Nikkei 225 plunged 3.81 per cent following the IMF’s comments. This marks a 6 week low for the index. The Australian ASX 200 shed 0.78 per cent after the Chinese data release. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost just 0.1 per cent in the late session.
U.S. stocks were lower on Friday after increasing speculation that the FED will wind up their Asset buying program. The dJIA ended up 1.36 per cent lower, the S&P 500 closed down 1.43 per cent and the Nasdaq was 1.01 per cent lower.
Forex
The USD/YEN was trading at 100.29, the pair's weakest level in 3 weeks. This marks a strengthening in the JPY, which has a direct impact on export prices. Japanese carmakers Toyota and Honda were lower; Sony and Sharp plunged in price with sharp losing 10.3 per cent. In a high volume, volatile Asian session, the USD was lower against all of its pairings. The commodity linked AUD was up against the USD by 0.72 per cent. The EUR/USD was 0.23 per cent higher and the GBP/USD was up 0.33 per cent.
Commodities
A nice start to the week for commodities, as investors moved away from the USD into metals. Gold was up 0.25 per cent, Silver up 0.58 per cent and even Copper gained 1.58 per cent. Crude oil was down after the outcome of the supply data from OPEC showing no new inventory, and Natural Gas was 0.45 per cent lower.
What to watch today:
The volatility and liveliness of the Asian session is expected to continue through the European session. This morning sees the release of European PMI data, and the ISM manufacturing later in the U.S. session.
The HSBC Purchasing Managers Index a drop to 49.2 last month, from 50.4 in April. This comes just one day after the government released their PMI data, indicating a rise to 50.8 in May from 50.6 the previous month.
Over the weekend, the IMF announced that Japan’s currency is weak enough, which comes after earlier comments from the International Monetary Fund that the JPY was overvalued.
Stocks
Asian stocks continued their downward trend for the third day running. Japan’s Nikkei 225 plunged 3.81 per cent following the IMF’s comments. This marks a 6 week low for the index. The Australian ASX 200 shed 0.78 per cent after the Chinese data release. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost just 0.1 per cent in the late session.
U.S. stocks were lower on Friday after increasing speculation that the FED will wind up their Asset buying program. The dJIA ended up 1.36 per cent lower, the S&P 500 closed down 1.43 per cent and the Nasdaq was 1.01 per cent lower.
Forex
The USD/YEN was trading at 100.29, the pair's weakest level in 3 weeks. This marks a strengthening in the JPY, which has a direct impact on export prices. Japanese carmakers Toyota and Honda were lower; Sony and Sharp plunged in price with sharp losing 10.3 per cent. In a high volume, volatile Asian session, the USD was lower against all of its pairings. The commodity linked AUD was up against the USD by 0.72 per cent. The EUR/USD was 0.23 per cent higher and the GBP/USD was up 0.33 per cent.
Commodities
A nice start to the week for commodities, as investors moved away from the USD into metals. Gold was up 0.25 per cent, Silver up 0.58 per cent and even Copper gained 1.58 per cent. Crude oil was down after the outcome of the supply data from OPEC showing no new inventory, and Natural Gas was 0.45 per cent lower.
What to watch today:
The volatility and liveliness of the Asian session is expected to continue through the European session. This morning sees the release of European PMI data, and the ISM manufacturing later in the U.S. session.