World Stocks Broadly Higher On Talks Of Monetary Easing

Asian stocks were higher in Asian session today; the Nikkei reached its highest point in 4 and a half years. This coincides with continuing expectations that the Bank of Japan will aid further monetary easing. Haruhiko Kuroda, the nominated BoJ governor, is all for aggressive easing campaigns in Japan, even mentioning that he will hit the 2% inflation rate.

European stocks were also higher this morning, following a cluster of negative data reports from the region. This has pushed expectations that the ECB will cut the interest rate.

US stocks closed higher at end of US trading yesterday. This comes on the back of a string of disappointing global economic data.

Today’s Economic Events:
Look out for revised PMI data from Europe, European sales data and the European Central Bank Policy Meeting. Later in the day, the U.S. Institute of Supply Management will release a report on the service sector.

Stocks
At the close of the U.S. session yesterday, the DJIA was up 0.27 per cent. S&P 500 closed up 0.46 per cent and the NASDAQ finished up 0.39per cent.

In Europe this morning, the EURO STOXX 50 rebounded to 1.46per cent, the German DAX 30 climbed to 1.38 per cent and the French CAC 40 regained 1.36 per cent.

Markit, the research group for PMI data said that Spanish Service sector PMI dropped to 44.7 per cent in February from 47 in January. They also released data for the Italian Purchasing Manager Index that dropped to 43.9 in February from 43.9 in the previous month.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 224 gained 0.56 per cent its highest level since October 2008. A report released earlier today showed that Japan’s Average Cash earnings in Q4 rose by 0.7 per cent, following a Q3 drop of 1.7per cent. The investors' expectation for Q4 was a decline of 0.3 per cent.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained 0.32 per cent. The Shanghai Composite was up 1.10 per cent on the previous day, with expectations that China may begin to tighten its monetary policies to slow down a sharp property price rise.

Asutralian ASX/S&P 200 climbed 1.6per cent folliwng the Reserve Bank’s decision to leave the overnight cash rate unmoved from 3 per cent. Statistics released todayshow retail sales in Australia have risen by 0.9 per cent in February, after a -0.4 per cent drop the previous month. Australia’s account balance rate in Q4 dropped to -14.7 billion AUD from -15 billion AUD in the previous quarter. This surpassed expectations ofa drop of -15.3bilion AUD in Q4.

Forex
Better than expected Purchasing Managers index data in France and Germany, buoyed the EUR against the USD this morning with the EUR/USD pair gaining 0.32 per cent to 1.3067. The greenback sunk against the GBP too, with the pair gaining 0.39 per cent to 1.5171 after positive PMI data from the UK which beat expectations. The USD sunk against the Yen too, with the USD/JPY losing 0.39 per cent to 93.10. The dollar sloped against the Swissy too, with the USD/CHF pair losing 0.10 per cent to 0.9396.

Commodities
Gold was higher today, rallying from its five day low, as talk of Fed Reserve bank maintaining its bond buying programme pushes investors to find a safe haven. So far this year, gold prices have tracked the speculation on U.S. central Bank asset buying and injecting money in to the economic system. Gold today for April delivery gained 0.55 per cent on the previous day, to be traded at $1581.10 troy ounce. Their high gold prices crept up to 1583.20 USD troy ounce.

Silver also rose by 1.51 per cent, and natural gas kept rising and gained 1.23 per cent as cold weather falls in Eastern coast of the US.

In European trading this morning, Crude oil came back from a 10 week low as traders go after cheap pricing of the commodity and move away from a weak USD. In New York session high was $90.69 per barrel.