Open Apr29

In Asian Equity Markets indices traded mixed on Monday morning, while markets in Japan are closed for a holiday. Mainland Chinese shares were mixed in early trade, with the Shanghai composite marginally higher. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index advanced 0.35%. In South Korea, the Kospi added 0.38%, with shares of industry heavyweight Samsung Electronics jumping more than 1%. The ASX 200 in Australia, on the other hand, fell 0.31% as the sectors mostly traded lower.



In Currency Markets calm settled over Asian currency markets on Monday as Japan kicked off a week of holidays, giving investors an extra excuse to sit on their hands ahead of a Federal Reserve policy meeting and U.S. jobs numbers. All eyes are on the Fed to see what they made of the first-quarter gross domestic product report, which showed strong growth of 3.2 percent, but largely for one-off reasons including a surge in inventories. The euro was likewise almost unchanged at $1.1149, not far from a near two-year trough of $1.1110.



In Commodities Markets oil prices fell on Monday, extending a slump from Friday that ended weeks of rallying, after President Donald Trump demanded that producer club OPEC raise output to soften the impact of U.S. sanctions against Iran. Brent crude futures were at $71.80 per barrel, down 35 cents, or 0.5 percent, from their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $62.91 per barrel, down 39 cents, or 0.6 percent, from their previous settlement. Both benchmarks fell around 3 percent in the previous session.



In US Equity Markets a surprisingly strong report card on the U.S. economy helped power the benchmark S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indexes to record high closes on Friday, capping a week of gains for stocks. The S&P 500 gained 0.47%, to 2,939.88 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.34%, to 8,146.40. The S&P’s biggest boost on Friday was from the consumer discretionary sector, which rose 0.9%. Its biggest support was from Amazon.com Inc, which rose 2.5% after the e-commerce giant’s quarterly profit doubled and beat estimates.



In Bond Markets U.S. Treasury yields fell following Friday’s first-quarter growth report as weak inflation data tempered the strong headline figure. Yields across maturities were lower, with the biggest losses at the short end of the curve. The two-year yield, a proxy for investor expectations of interest-rate hikes, was last down 3.8 basis points to 2.292%. The benchmark 10-year government note yield was last 2.5 basis points lower at 2.509%.