Daily Market Updates 02.10.2020

Friday 02.10.2020

Asian Session

Japan’s Tokyo Stock Exchange returned to trade on Friday following a halting of trade yesterday caused by a hardware glitch. Most Asian markets including China, Hong Kong, South Korea and India closed today amid holidays. Stocks in Asia-Pacific were mostly lower on the news that Trump is positive on the virus. The Tokyo Exchange halted the entire trading due to technical problem and they are making efforts with aiming to resume trading today.

US Stocks

After Donald Trump tweeted that he is positive for coronavirus, stock market commenced weakening and Dow Jones plunged more than 400 points in early trading session.  Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 435 points after earlier plunging more than 500 points. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures were also in negative territory. Investors are eyeing today on Non-Farm Payrolls report which may provide weaker results than August.

Major Currencies

FX Strategists at UOB Group noted that Euro/Dollar could have now entered into a consolidation phase. Yesterday the pair jumped higher amid weaker dollar and the consolidation phase will remain ahead of US NFP data later on the day to set a new direction. Pound/Dollar trading range yesterday was between 1.2820 and 1.2980. Terence Wu, FX Strategist at OCBC Bank, braces for more action this Friday, with the EU side expected to announce whether there is sufficient common ground for them to enter the final phase of negotiations. Without a commitment to progress on the next stage of talks, supportive level remains at 1.28.  Dollar/Yen is forecasted to keep the range between 105.00 and 106.00 for the time being, noted FX Strategists at UOB Group. The pair today dropped after Trump announced that he is positive on coronavirus. The US Nonfarm Payrolls data is expected to show 850K job additions, as a result we expect volatile market later on the day.

Gold Market

Spot gold prices declined by 0.2% to $1,901.66 per ounce on early trading session, after rising 1% to a 1-1/2-week high of $1,911.66 in the previous session. However, the yellow metal has added around 1.8% this week, its biggest weekly percentage rise early August. Gold surged today as Trump announced that he is positive on coronavirus, however, there exist doubts regarding a new US stimulus package.

Oil Market

Crude oil prices dropped in morning trading European session today after U.S. President Donald Trump announced he tested positive for the coronavirus. International benchmark Brent crude futures dropped by 3.62% to $39.45 per barrel, while US crude on futures market also slipped by 3.64% to $37.31 per barrel. That followed a significant decline on yesterday of nearly 4%.

European Stocks

European equities are expected to open lower today after Trump announced he tested positive for coronavirus. Yesterday EU stocks closed the day slightly higher, while treasuries yield slipped.

On the data front 02-10-2020