Thursday 26th November: Asian markets gain slowly as US numbers put sentiment off

Global Markets:

• Asian Stock Markets : Nikkei up 0.91%, Shanghai Composite up 0.22%, Hang Seng up 0.41%, ASX down 0.70%
• Commodities : Gold at $1814.05 (+0.47%), Silver at $23.42 (+0.26%), Brent Oil at $47.78 (-1.55%), WTI Oil at $45.01 (-1.53%)
• Rates : US 10-year yield at 0.883, UK 10-year yield at 0.312, Germany 10-year yield at -0.570

News & Data:

• (USD) Revised UoM Consumer Sentiment 76.9 vs 76.9 expected
• (USD) Unemployment Claims 778K vs 732K expected
• (USD) Prelim GDP q/q 33.10% vs 33.10% expected
• Sunak: UK Should Not Be Stretching For A Brexit Deal At Any Cost – LBC
• FOMC Minutes Show Fed Split Over Asset-Purchase Plans

Markets Update:

Asian stock markets are turning in a muted performance on Thursday as optimism about the recent positive news regarding coronavirus vaccines was offset by data that showed U.S. weekly jobless claims unexpectedly increased amid a surge in coronavirus infections in the U.S.

The Shanghai composite rose 0.2% while the Shenzhen component fell 0.5%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index ended its trading day 0.4% higher. The Nikkei 225 gained 0.9% while the Topix index rose 0.6%. The Australian market declined 0.7% following the mixed cues from Wall Street amid disappointing economic U.S. data. Investor sentiment was also dampened following news that Australian coal worth more than A$700 million is being held up at Chinese ports due to rising tensions between Australia and China.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 91.908 after seeing levels above 92.4 earlier this week. Bitcoin fell 4% to $17,909, pulling off from a near-three-year high touched the previous day. Still, the crypto-currency sits on gains of about 30% so far this month.

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