 Riding on the strong rally in the US on Friday, Asian opened the week generally higher. While major Asian indices maintain gains, there is no follow through buying seen. There seems to be enough risks to keep investors' hands tied, including the result of the vice ministerial level US-China trade negotiations, which starts in Beijing this week. On the other side of the planet, parliamentary debate on Brexit agreement will resume this week and there is no sign of breakthrough yet. And across the Atlantic, partial US government shutdown is in its third week, with no end in sight. In the currency markets, Yen is trading as the strongest one for today but gain is limited. Euro and Australian Dollar follow as second and third strongest. Dollar is the weakest one, under broad based pressure. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Fed will be patient to see how the economy evolves. More important, Powell said Fed is "always prepared to shift the stance of policy". Fed funds futures are pricing in nearly no chance of a rate hike in first half of 2019, and around 25% of a rate cut by December. Canadian Dollar and Sterling follow as second and third weakest. In Asia, Nikkei is currently up 2.73% and Singapore Strait Times is up 1.27%. But Hong Kong HSI is up 0.67% only. China Shanghai SSE is up 0.44%. Japan 10 year JGB year stays negative at -0.011. |
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