Table of Contents

Global Markets:

Asian Stock Markets : Nikkei up 0.71%, Shanghai Composite up 0.75%, Hang Seng up 0.36%, ASX up 1.16%
Commodities : Gold at $1482.65 (+0.17%), Silver at $16.97 (+0.34%), Brent Oil at $62.88 (-0.19%), WTI Oil at $58.26 (-0.29%)
Rates : US 10-year yield at 1.764, UK 10-year yield at 0.739, Germany 10-year yield at -0.324

News & Data:

(AUD) Trade Balance 4.50B vs 6.50B expected
(AUD) Retail Sales m/m 0.00% vs 0.30% expected
(USD) Crude Oil Inventories -4.9M vs -1.6M expected
(USD) ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI 53.9 vs 54.5 expected
(CAD) Overnight Rate 1.75% vs 1.75% expected
(USD) ADP Non-Farm Employment Change 67K vs 137K expected
(GBP) Final Services PMI 49.3 vs 48.6 expected

Markets Update:

Asian stock markets are in positive territory on Thursday amid renewed optimism about a U.S.-China trade deal. Citing people familiar with the talks, Bloomberg reported that U.S. negotiators expect a phase one deal to be completed before U.S. tariffs against China are set to rise on December 15.

Thursday 19th December: Pound Sluggish Sub 1.31 Ahead of the BoE’s Monetary Policy Update.

Friday 20th December: Dollar Index Maintains Upside Presence Despite Capped by Weekly Trend Line Resistance.

Thursday 5th December: Dollar Explores Lower Ground for A Fourth Successive Session.

The Australian market is rebounding after two days of steep losses following the positive cues overnight from Wall Street amid renewed optimism about a U.S.-China trade deal. Tech and mining stocks are among the major gainers.

Mainland Chinese stocks edged higher by the afternoon, with the Shanghai composite up 0.7% and the Shenzhen component gaining 0.9%.In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.7% in afternoon trade as shares of index heavyweight and robot maker Fanuc jumped more than 2%.

The Topix index added 0.5%. Meanwhile, shares in Australia also advanced after leading losses among regional markets on Wednesday, with the S&P/ASX 200 gaining 1.2%. On the economic front, the Reserve Bank of India kept the repo rate unchanged at 5.15%

The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes fell slightly to 1.7603% in Asia, retracing some of the gains made in the previous session. The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was last at 97.549 after seeing highs above 97.7 yesterday. Oil prices dipped in the afternoon of Asian trading hours.