Morning Update – 19/06/2017 – by Arjun Lakhanpal
June 19, 2017Morning all.. Wall St closed unchanged on Friday in a quiet session but Asia is higher this morning with the Nikkei up 0.55% but little economic news overnight. Stocks in Asia rose, with a weaker yen supporting Japanese equities and technology stocks rebounding after their biggest weekly sell-off since November. But even USDJPY was stuck in a tight range around 111.00. Samsung Electronics Co. led gains among tech shares in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index. Shanghai and Hong Kong stocks jumped before a decision on whether MSCI Inc. will include China shares in global indexes. The kiwi climbed as a gauge of the services industry expanded at a faster pace. Oil continued to retreat, while gold was little changed after two weeks of losses. Japan had a surprise trade deficit in May, as stronger-than-expected imports overpowered the continued growth in exports. Australian central bank Governor Philip Lowe said the country can achieve stronger growth if lawmakers can surmount current political gridlock. One weak spot was China, where home prices increased in fewer cities last month in the wake of cooling measures imposed by local authorities. GBP traded down to $1.2773 after another major incident in London where a van collided with pedestrians in north London, killing one and injuring 8 others. Looking ahead this week, Britain starts formal Brexit negotiations with the EU today. Uncertainty remains in Britain as Theresa May continues to battle for her job and there is still no agreement with the DUP. No data of note this morning in Europe.Looks like being a quiet one barring headlines. Good luck…
