Weekly Market Updates 23.11.2020

Monday 23.11.2020

Asian Session

Asian stocks jumped higher today, with a broad regional index reaching a record high amid hopes for the fast progress of the coronavirus vaccine, however, there exist concerns over the impact of economic lockdowns and uncertainty over US stimulus. South Korea’s Kospi index was 1.82% higher as an optimistic earnings outlook for South Korean chip giants led to gains. Nikkei futures increased by 0.19%, while Hong Kong’s index declined by 0.2%.

US Stocks

Dow Jones on futures markets went even higher in early trading session today, despite the increase in new coronavirus cases in the US and abroad. Futures contracts advanced 200 points. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures also traded in positive territory. All three major averages finished Friday’s session lower, while the Dow and S&P 500 also posted a loss for the week, falling 0.73% and 0.77%, respectively, for their first negative week in three. The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.22% for the week.

Major Currencies

The European manufacturing PMI report showed a rate of 53.6 for November against 53.1 as it was expected due to more aggressive measures taken to confront the coronavirus pandemic, however Euro/Dollar ignored the news and hold its daily gains near 1.1875. Pound/Dollar has been rising on vaccine developments and Brexit optimism but struggles around the next budget and worries about new lockdowns measures may weigh significantly on the pair. Meanwhile, 4-hour chart indicates a bullish trend, Yohay Elam, an Analyst at FXStreet, reports and the pair is currently traded around 1.37. Dollar/Yen still risks further downside but a move to the 103.18 level appears unfavourable in the short-term horizon, in opinion of FX Strategists at UOB Group.

Gold Market

Spot gold price increased by 0.2% to $1873 per ounce b early trading session, while US gold on futures market were little changed at $1871 per ounce. Gold jumped higher at the beginning of this week, as a softer dollar and hopes of further U.S. monetary stimulus to cushion the pandemic-hit economy offset optimism over the possibility of a Covid-19 vaccine rollout next month.

Oil Market

Oil investors Sentiment was also bolstered by hopes OPEC and its allies, Russia and other producers, a group known as OPEC+, will keep crude output in check. Brent crude futures rose by 21 cents, which reflects 0.5%, to $45.17 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained 10 cents, or 0.2%, to $42.52 per barrel. Both benchmarks jumped 5% last week. Oil price is also rising due to the recent developments on coronavirus vaccine

European Stocks

European equities went higher in early trading session today as hopes rise that effective coronavirus vaccines will start to be rolled out soon. The pan-European Stoxx600 index added 0.9%, oil and gas stocks bouncing 2.5% to lead gains as almost all sectors and major bourses entered positive territory.

On the data front 23-11-2020