EQUITIES
Asian share markets opened the week in early trading on positive note, as Japan's Nikkei 225 up 1.13%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng up 1.66%, China's Shanghai Composite gained 0.40% and Singapore’s gained 1.64%. Meanwhile, shares in South Korea’s KOSPI increased 0.99% in early trading. Markets in Australia and Malaysia are closed on Monday for a holiday.
Main exchanges across U.S. and Europe were mostly recording gain when the week closed, with recorded gains were generally more than 2%.
OIL
Oil climbs over 2% on morning of Asian trading hours, OPEC and Russia agreed to extend oil production cuts. Brent is trading at $43.27, while WTI is trading at $40.26 as of writing time.
Brent crude futures ended the session higher on Friday at $42.30 per barrel, while WTI crude futures at $39.55 per barrel.
CURRENCIES
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 96.82 after seeing levels above 97.8 last week.
The Japanese yen traded at 109.53 per dollar after weakening drastically from levels below 108.5 last week. The Australian dollar was at $0.6980 after rising from levels below $0.68 last week.
Dollar retreated against most of other currencies including RUB, NOK, MXN, and NZD at latest reading.
GOLD
Gold currently trading at $1,683.80 per ounce, while stands around $1,688.80 per ounce for gold futures as of writing time. Previously closed at $1,685.80 and $1,683.00, respectively.
Silver trading at $17.44, platinum trading at $813.20 and palladium trading at $1,914.00.
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
Stocks in were higher in Monday morning trade after oil agreement Saturday and U.S. jobs data released Friday had an unexpected jump, spurring hopes of an economic recovery.
OPEC+ agreed to a one-month extension of its record oil-production cuts and adopted a stricter approach to ensuring members do not pump more than they pledged. Under the original agreement reached on April 12, production was set to increase in steps after June.
Dollar fell against other currencies after surprising improvement in U.S. labour market data bolstered expectations for economic recovery, which reduced safe-harbour demand for the greenback.
To date, number of confirmed worldwide cases for COVID-19 pandemic has now reached more than 7.085 million today affecting 213 countries and territories around the world and 2 international conveyances, recording more than 405 thousand fatality globally.
TECHNICAL OUTLOOK
[USDJPY]
Important Levels to Watch for Today:
- Resistance line of 109.827 and 111.678.
- Support line of 108.808 and 107.895.
Commentary/ Reason:
- USDJPY is still moving along the boundary of a rising parallel channel, and in bullish uptrend.
- Stochastic oscillator value is below 30, entering an oversold range.
- RSI oscillator is steadies around 50 value.
