Strong Japan GDP Offsets Weak Earnings Reports

Asian stocks were mixed to lower in Asian trade pushed down by Asian banking stocks which suffered from poor earnings reports. This comes alongside Japan GDP data released which showed that the Japanese economy has grown beyond expectation for Q1.

The GDP expanded by 0.9 per cent for the first 3 months of 2013. Compare this to the past quarter where yearly growth was 3.5 per cent and also to the GDP for the US for the same period, where 2.5 per cent growth was seen and the Eurozone- 0.9 per cent contraction in the first quarter. For many this is seen as a vindication of the Japanese Prime Ministers monetary strategy.

Stocks
Asian stocks were broadly down – the Nikkei 225 fell 1.19 per cent, below the 15,000 level although nothing to worry about as the number is still 45 per cent up from the beginning of this year. In Australia the ASX200 lost 0.63 per cent as lower commodity prices like gold have brought down the price of shares in raw material and mining firms. In South Korea the Kospi gained almost 1 per cent as the USDJPY fell. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong also saw an increase of 0.27 per cent with the Shanghai Composite gaining 0.59 per cent.

In Europe the stocks performed mixed to lower this morning still reacting to the weak data to come out of the eurozone yesterday. The Euro STOXX 50 lost 0.32 per cent in morning trade while the French CAC 40 lost 0.40 per cent and the German DAX declined 0.16 per cnet.

The US stocks closed up yesterday after the industrial output data missed its mark fueling speculation that the Fed will continue with their ongoing monthly monetary policy and easing. The DJIA closed up 040 per cent, the S&P 500 was up 0.51 per cent and the Nasdaq gained 0.26 per cent.

Forex
The EUR kept falling in Asian trading pushed down by the weak data releases in the Eurozone including GDP figure which showed economic contraction. The EUR was down 0.11 per cent against the USD while the dollar made slight gains against most of its counterparts. The British Pound was steady following comments from Mervyn King yesterday. The AUD was lower agianst the USD as the price of gold further extended losses.

Commodities
Gold after touching a four-week low lost a further 0.27 per cent in Asian session. Silver fell too, – a 0.23 per cent drop while Natural gas rallied and undid some of tis losses with a 0.45 per cent on cold weather hitting areas of Europe and US. Crude oil dropped 0.45 per cent of its previous gains on release of supply data.

What to watch today:
Consumer Price index figures from eurozone should bolster the euro and CPI and various other releases from US including FOMC member Fisher speaking will move USD and stocks.