ASIAN STOCKS TALKING POINTS
- Asia indexes were all higher Monday
- Strong US job creation did the trick
- However, the US Dollar wilted on news of weaker wage growth, while a key political resignation hit the UK Pound
The DailyFX Third-Quarter forecasts are out now!
Asian stocks were broadly higher as a new week kicked off on Monday. Worries about global trade’s future took a backseat as regional investors opted to pick up the baton from Friday’s Wall Street session which saw broad gains on better-than expected US labor-market data.
The Nikkei 225 was up 1.4% as its close approached, one of a triumvirate of indexes to gain by more than 1% which also included the Shanghai Composite and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong. The ASX 200 and the Kospi were up too, but by smaller amounts.
In the foreign exchange space the US Dollar was pressured by one aspect of those same labour-market numbers. Soft wage data cast some doubts on the future robustness of inflation. The British Pound lost some ground on shock news that the country’s Brexit Minister David Davis had opted to resign rather than support the government’s latest departure plans.
GBP/USD remain in broad downtrend and, with an attempt at the channel top looking to have failed, may well find itself in retreat back to its previous range. The top of that comes in just below the current market at $1.31.98.
The Japanese Yen was steady on both its domestic current account numbers and Bank of Japan Governor Kuroda’s speech in which he maintained rigid adherence to accommodative monetary policy.
Gold prices found some support in that generally weaker US Dollar while crude oil prices gained too, reportedly as investors fear some supply tightness ahead. Still to come on Monday are Mexico’s official Consumer Price Index data. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi will speak to the European Parliament in Brussels.
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— Written by David Cottle, DailyFX Research
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