European Open Market Briefing – 10/10/2017 – by Arjun Lakhanpal
October 10, 2017In Asian Equity Markets Japan’s Nikkei index edged up in choppy trade on Tuesday after a three-day weekend as the weak yen supported sentiment, but Kobe Steel’s shares were set to plunge after it said it had fabricated data. The Nikkei was up 0.4 percent at 20,763.10 points by midmorning, after opening slightly lower. The broader Topix added 0.1 percent to 1,689.16. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.5 percent. The Kopsi in South Korea jumped 1.81 percent. In Greater China, the Shanghai Composite fell 0.33 percent and the Hang Seng Index inched up 0.10 percent.
In Currency Markets the dollar was little changed against the yen on Tuesday, with the market wary of potential North Korean provocations, while the euro extended gains following upbeat German data and hawkish-sounding comments from a ECB official. The greenback was steady at 112.670 yen. The euro was up 0.25 percent at $1.1768. The Turkish lira stood at 3.6990 against the dollar after tumbling to 3.9223 the previous day, its weakest since January. The pound nudged up 0.1 percent to $1.3157. The New Zealand dollar was up 0.1 percent at $0.7069 to put a bit of distance between a four-month trough of $0.7052 touched the previous day after a final vote count in the country’s tight general election failed to identify a clear winner.
In Commodities Markets oil prices were steady on Tuesday as OPEC said there were clear signs the market was rebalancing and as U.S. production remained offline following Hurricane Nate. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were trading at $49.66 per barrel, up 0.2 percent, from their last close. Brent crude futures were up 0.1 percent, at $55.86 a barrel. Spot gold was up 0.2 percent to $1,286.86 an ounce, after earlier in the session touching its best since late September at $1288.19. In other precious metals, silver rose 0.5 percent to $17.02 an ounce, having hit a two-week high of $17.06 earlier. Platinum was up 0.4 percent to $915.55 an ounce. Palladium was little changed at $929.22 an ounce.
In US Equity Markets stocks fell from record levels on Monday as gains in Microsoft and other technology stocks failed to offset a decrease in General Electric and a slide in healthcare stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.06 percent to 22,761.07, while the S&P 500 lost 0.18 percent to 2,544.73. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.16 percent to 6,579.73. The S&P healthcare index moved 0.67 percent lower, weighed by a 3.61-percent slide in Medtronic after the medical device maker warned that its quarterly profit would be impacted after Hurricane Maria hit its operations in Puerto Rico. GE shares fell 3.94 percent after the conglomerate named a new CFO and said it gave activist investment firm Trian Fund Management a board seat.
In Bond Markets Spanish borrowing costs fell to a one-week low on Monday, narrowing the gap over top-rated Germany on hopes that Catalonia would this week take a step back from a unilateral declaration of independence from Spain. Spain’s 10-year bond yield fell as much as 8 basis points to a 1-week low of 1.64 percent, before edging back up slightly to 1.68 percent. The gap between Spain and Germany’s 10-year bond yield shrank to around 118 basis points.
Economic Calendar
- 09:30 GMT+1 UK Manufacturing Production m/m
