Friday, 29 June 2018
- Asian markets drifted lower on the last trading day of the quarter.
- U.S. stocks closed higher as investor sentiment appeared to improve in the New York session.
- Oil prices slipped after gaining overnight although supply concerns remained.
Asian stocks drifted lower in the last trading day of the quarter, shrugging off gains seen stateside on Thursday amid investor concerns over U.S. trade policy persisting.
Japanese stocks slipped, with the Nikkei 225 trading lower by 0.43 percent. In South Korea, the Kospi erased early gains to decline 0.43 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was virtually unchanged, with the index last trading lower by 0.01 percent.
Investor sentiment had improved in the overnight session, with U.S. stocks recovering from earlier declines on Thursday to finish the session higher on the back of gains in banks and technology stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.41 percent, or 98.46 points, to close at 24,216.05.
Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury yields edged marginally higher overnight after U.S. gross domestic product growth slowed more than expected. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was last at 2.84 percent.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six currencies, was down 0.11 percent at 95.16, after advancing about 1 percent over the last two sessions amid continuing trade tensions between the United States and its major trading partners. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) set the Yuan reference rate 6.6166 vs. Thursday’s fix of 6.5960.
Oil prices pared some overnight gains, but was broadly supported by ongoing supply concerns. U.S. crude futures were lower by 0.37 percent at $73.18 per barrel after touching a three and a half year high overnight. Brent crude futures were off by 0.08 percent at $77.79.
Indian Rupee touched all time low yesterday breaching 69 at one point of time but heavy intervention from Reserve bank brought it down later in the evening.
Source : Reuters
