DAILY MARKET NEWS

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EQUITIES

Asian shares mostly reverse earlier losses in the opening trade. Mainland Chinese stocks that were lower in the morning of trading hours, reversed with the Shanghai composite gained 0.51%, while the Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index advanced 0.90%. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.36%. South Korea’s KOSPI gained 1.23%, and Singapore’s grew 1.959%. Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200 traded lower at -0.46%.

Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 160.35 points, or 0.57%, to 28,492.27, the S&P 500 gained 5.82 points, or 0.17%, to 3,484.55 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 39.72 points, or 0.34%, to 11,625.34.

OIL

Oil prices edged lower in the morning of Asian trading hours. Brent crude futures traded to $45.04 a barrel, while U.S. crude at $42.98.

On Thursday, Brent closed at $45.09 per barrel, while WTI futures ended at $43.04 per barrel.

CURRENCIES

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was last at 92.91 after seeing levels around 93.3 earlier.

The Japanese yen traded at 106.77 per dollar after weakening yesterday from levels below 106.4 against the greenback. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7258 after following its rise earlier this week from below $0.72.

GOLD

Gold retreated for the fourth time in five sessions. Currently trading at $1,930.10 per ounce, while stands around $1,936.50 per ounce for gold futures. Previously closed at $1,928.60 and $1,939.40, respectively.

Silver trading at $27.02, platinum trading at $914.00 and palladium trading at $2,064.00.

ECONOMIC OUTLOOK

Asia Pacific stocks were mixed in Friday morning trade as Fed unveils new approach to inflation.

In landmark shift, Fed rewrites approach to inflation and labour market. Jerome Powell announced a policy that aims for 2% inflation on average so that too low a pace would be followed by an effort to lift inflation “moderately above 2% for some time.”

The Fed also adjusted its view of full employment to allow gains in the labour market to run more broadly. That indicated that the central bank will be less inclined to raise interest rates when the unemployment rate falls if inflation does not creep up as well.

Oil prices eased on Friday as the market expected a quick recovery as Hurricane Laura's blow unlikely to have sustained impact on production platforms.

To date, number of confirmed worldwide cases for COVID-19 pandemic has surpassed 24.625 million affecting 213 countries and territories around the world and 2 international conveyances, recording more than 835 thousand fatality globally.