British lawmakers approved a Brexit delay

Daily Analysis - 15/03/2019

GBP seems steady

Following the UK parliament's vote for a delay regarding Britain's departure from the European Union, the British pound halted for a moment on Friday but stayed on course for its largest weekly profit in more than 2 months.

The Japanese yen erased the one-week lows after the Bank of Japan held its policy in ice for now but also because of a report that North Korea is thinking to suspend nuclear talks with the U.S.

GBP latest trading was at $1.3250, dropping further from Wednesday's nine-month top of $1.3378.

Oil firm on OPEC cuts

On Friday Oil was strong due to production cuts controlled by OPEC and also while U.S. sanctions against Iran and Venezuela is possible that produced a small shortfall in global supply in the first part of 2019.

Although oil prices have been topped by anxieties that economic retardation will soon start sinking growth in fuel demand.

Brent crude oil futures were at $67.26 per barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were up 2cents at $58.62 per barrel.

Asia markets went up

On Friday Asia markets generally traded higher while traders responded to the Bank of Japan's monetary policy decision but also the important vote from U.K. legislators that could possibly delay its exit from the European Union. Chinese mainland stocks went higher: The Shanghai composite gained more than 1. % at 3,021.73 while the Shenzhen composite scored 1.4% to 1,641.36.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gave back some of its profits yet rose more than 0.7% to 21,450.8. The Topix index got 0.9%to 1,602.60. South Korea's Kospi went more than 0.9% higher at 2,176.10 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 0.8%.

Gold gains over soft dollar

On Friday Gold increased, while recovering from the previous session's drop. The greenback plunged and rising fears regarding retardation in global economic growth increased the need for the safe-haven bullion.

The dollar slid 0.1% versus main currencies and was on track for its largest weekly loss since last year. The U.S. gold futures gained 0.2% at $1,297.79 an ounce. Spot gold increased by 0.2% to $1,297.94 per ounce, following the drop of about 1% the previous day.

Upcoming Events

Time
Currency
Event
Forecast
Previous

10:00 GMT
EUR
CPI (YoY) (Feb)
1.50%
1.50%

14:00 GMT
USD
JOLTs Job Openings (Jan)
7.310M
7.335M

Ready to trade
Open Account
Share:
Next: UK parliament rejected a no deal Brexit