Disappointing Chinese manufacturing data

Daily Analysis - 01/02/2019

Asia markets trade higher due to trade hopes

On Friday Asia Stocks moved mainly to a higher level late afternoon. Confidence that the U.S. and China may secure a trade agreement gave the chance to investors to look for bullish opportunities. In the meantime, Chinese manufacturing data appeared in beneath the market expectations.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index, moved about 0.3% while the

Mainland Chinese markets marked some profits. The Shenzhen composite rose by little more 1.7%. Shanghai composite climbed about 0.7% and the Shenzhen component grew around1.7%.

Strong earnings pushed S&P 500 higher

The markets, witness the best January in 30 years yesterday and that support investor's confidence as Stocks rose to close on solid earnings. An indication that Federal Reserve will halt rate hikes also generated positive sentiment and investors hurried back into the market, following a wild Christmas sell-off.

On Thursday the increase was propelled by better-than-expected earnings from a variety of corporations, including the much surprising General Electric but Facebook as well. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished merely below the range at 24,999.65 while the S&P 500 increased 0.9% to finish at 2,704.09. The Nasdaq Composite was also elevated, increasing about 1.3% to 7,281.70.

Gold broke the 8-month top

On Thursday Gold climbed to its greatest level in nine months, following the U.S. Fed removed the restraints on monetary tightening. The greenback softens while the popular yellow metal is marking profits. Spot gold has increased more than 3% so far this month while the U.S. gold futures ended $9.70 above at around $1,325.19.

Spot gold was fixed at $1,319.35 per ounce. Its trading session top was $1,326.29, the highest since last April. David Meger, director of metals trading at High Ridge Futures said "The ongoing trend in precious metals markets continues. The much more dovish-than-expected Fed stance continues to support commodity prices across the board, weaken the dollar and support the precious metals complex as well".

Aussie dollar going under

On Friday the AUD dropped against the popular USD following a private study revealed factory action in China shortened by the most in nearly 3 years in January.

The Australian dollar usually reflecting the global risk appetite. The AUD dropped about 0.4% to $0.7244.

China's clouded factory numbers have caused global growth concerns to the strike once more, and that is beneficial for safe-haven currencies like the Japanese yen.