During the early trading session, Asian stocks traded mixed as investors remain cautious over the possibility of major central banks implementing further easing measures because of recent negative data. The Nikkei share average was up 0.71%, Hang Seng down 0.58% and the Shanghai Composite dropped 2.13%. The Yen was slightly up against the Dollar in thin trade following a number of positive reports from Japan, the Adjusted Current account and the Current Account n.s.a. both showed better than expected figures. Currency markets traded with little movement in Asian trade as market spectators awaited the release of economic reports from the Eurozone and the United States.
During the European session, the British Pound continued to trade close to 5 month highs, but declined slightly following the BoE inflation report and mixed economic reports. The Bank of England cut the growth forecast for the coming year from 2.9% to 2.4% and the Average Earnings Index showed an increase of 1.9%, whereas the Claimant Count Change showed a worse than expected figure with a 12.6K decline.
At the open of the U.S. trading session, the Dollar slumped against a basket of major currencies following disappointing reports. The Core Retail Sales for April grew 0.1%, below the expected figure of 0.5% and the Monthly Retail Sales remained unchanged, with analysts expecting a 0.2% increase. The weaker Dollar pushed up the price of gold and the commodity reached its highest level since early April.
The price of oil dropped sharply as Saudi Arabia’s OPEC continued to rig oil as they battle for higher market shares. The price has now rebounded slightly following the release of the US Crude oil inventories showed that the number of barrels held by US firms dropped 2.191M, weighing up the ratio of supply and demand. The commodity is currently trading above $61/barrel.
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