The BOJ disappointed the markets and pushed Asian stocks down in the overnight session as they decided to keep their monetary policy as is, without lengthening the loan repayment times made to lenders. This baffled many analysts and also pushed the JPY up against the USD, sent Nikkei 225 trading lower. The USD was performing well against the Asian currencies after the S&P upgraded its economic rating forecast for the U.S. to stable following recent recovery as seen in the data releases. This means the U.S. will move up from AA+ back to AAA, the rating the U.S. last had in August 2011. The S&P cited that the reasons are the US’s “resilient economy, monetary credibility and the USD status as the world’s key reserve currency”.
Stocks
The Nikkei 225 suffered off the back of the BOJ’s dovish attitude to further lending, dropping 1.30 per cent with the bears picking up pace as the session continued. Samsung lost almost 3 percent on concerns the South Korean giant is not selling the newest Galaxy smartphone to expected levels. This helped bring down the Kospi Index by 0.80 per cent. Australian markets reopened with a reaction to last week’s jobs data from the U.S. with a slight gain, while China remains closed for a public holiday.
Forex
While the USD found favor against the Asian currencies it was mixed against its other major counterparts. It was lower against the EUR – down 0.09 per cent. The GBP was down 0.07 percent and the JPY 0.51 percent lower, but higher against the AUD - 0.61 per cent.
Commodities
Commodities were lower in the overnight session as investors took advantage of nicely priced positions with gold 0.25 per cent lower. Silver was down 0.55 per cent, Copper fell 0.13 per cent and Crude oil was down 0.09 per cent on yesterday’s China data. Natural gas reversed its gains on warmer weather.
What to watch today:
The morning will be dominated by key data from the U.K., manufacturing and Industrial Production and housing data which will move the GBP/USD. Investors are expecting stronger data from the U.K., which should reverse the fortunes of the British Pound, driving the pound up to around 1.56 against the dollar.
Stocks
The Nikkei 225 suffered off the back of the BOJ’s dovish attitude to further lending, dropping 1.30 per cent with the bears picking up pace as the session continued. Samsung lost almost 3 percent on concerns the South Korean giant is not selling the newest Galaxy smartphone to expected levels. This helped bring down the Kospi Index by 0.80 per cent. Australian markets reopened with a reaction to last week’s jobs data from the U.S. with a slight gain, while China remains closed for a public holiday.
Forex
While the USD found favor against the Asian currencies it was mixed against its other major counterparts. It was lower against the EUR – down 0.09 per cent. The GBP was down 0.07 percent and the JPY 0.51 percent lower, but higher against the AUD - 0.61 per cent.
Commodities
Commodities were lower in the overnight session as investors took advantage of nicely priced positions with gold 0.25 per cent lower. Silver was down 0.55 per cent, Copper fell 0.13 per cent and Crude oil was down 0.09 per cent on yesterday’s China data. Natural gas reversed its gains on warmer weather.
What to watch today:
The morning will be dominated by key data from the U.K., manufacturing and Industrial Production and housing data which will move the GBP/USD. Investors are expecting stronger data from the U.K., which should reverse the fortunes of the British Pound, driving the pound up to around 1.56 against the dollar.