Daily Analysis - 01/05/2019
On Wednesday Australian stocks went higher while most main Asian exchanges remained shut for holidays.
The ASX 200 gained 0.8%, Australia’s "Big Four banks" increased; Australia and New Zealand Banking Group went up more than 2.8%. The JPY was at 111.45 versus the greenback while the Australian dollar was at $0.7050 having touched an earlier low of $0.7030. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback versus a bucket of its rivals, fell from 97.8 to 97.4.
On Wednesday oil prices declined following a statement that revealed a surge in U.S. crude stockpiles. Nevertheless, global markets continued to feel anxious due to an intensifying political pressure in Venezuela, continuing OPEC supply cuts and tightening U.S. penalties on Iran.
U.S. WTI crude futures fell 60 cents to $63.31 per barrel while the Brent crude oil futures dropped to $71.58 per barrel.
On Tuesday the popular EUR rose to a 7-day top versus the greenback following the first-quarter economic growth numbers while Eurozone beat market expectations. Eurozone manages to dismiss some pessimism covering the zone’s popular currency. Eurozone economic growth stimulated to 0.4% in the first 90 days of the year retracing from a drop in the second half of 2018 data showed yesterday.
On Wednesday Gold softened due to overnight increases in U.S. stocks. Asian markets will remain closed today while we wait for the closely watched Federal Reserve decision for future interest rates. U.S. gold futures dropped 0.3% to $1,281.59 an ounce while Spot gold fell 0.2% to $1,280.23 per ounce.
