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Yen steadies, Asian stocks support as wild week winds down

The yen supported near a. 12week high against the dollar on Friday while AsiaPacific. equity markets discovered their feet, a day after their worst session. given that midApril.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares. was just 0.06% lower on Friday, following a 1.88% topple the. previous day.

Much of the weakness emanated from Taiwan, which reopened. from a two-day closure due to a tropical cyclone to plunge 3.53% as the. tech-heavy equity index overtook the thrashing in the. rest of the world because mid-week.

Japan's Nikkei eased 0.12% after failing to sustain. earlier gains, but Australia's criteria included 0.79% and. South Korea's Kospi gained 0.89%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng increased 0.21% while mainland blue. chips were flat.

U.S. stock futures pointed greater after 2 days of selling. in the money indexes, with S&P 500 futures increasing 0.43%. and Nasdaq futures advancing 0.53%.

Pan-European Stoxx 50 futures included 0.17%.

U.S. financial data from overnight provided some cause for. optimism, with economic growth faster than expected in the. 2nd quarter and inflation cooling. That assisted resolve worries. that the growth remained in threat of an abrupt end, while likewise. supporting wagers for a Federal Reserve interest rate cut in. September.

Friday's release of the PCE deflator, one of the Fed's. preferred price determines, will be the next test, and arguably. climax to the week's trade, said Kyle Rodda, a senior market. analyst at Capital.com.

There are concerns about upside threat to the current. consensus estimate for the PCE Index, Rodda stated.

While a modest benefit surprise wouldn't always derail. the path back to the target of inflation, it might impact the. anticipated timing of the first (Fed) cut and the variety of cuts. that could come by the next 6 months. That could rattle the. markets at a time when belief is already a little cautious.

YEN UP 2.5% VS DOLLAR THIS WEEK

Safe-haven need for the yen cooled overnight, and an. relaxing of long-held bearish bets slowed after the. Japanese currency acquired some 2.5% this week against the dollar,. putting it on track for its finest efficiency because late April.

The dollar last traded 0.19% lower at 153.67 yen, after. dropping as low as 151.945 on Thursday for the first time because. May 3, and after that springing back by the end of the trading day.

The location between 152 and 151.80 has proved to be a brick. wall of demand, stated IG expert Tony Sycamore.

We continue to anticipate this support level to hold, with a. squeeze back towards 155.30 ish not out of the question ahead of. Wednesday's Bank of Japan conference, Sycamore said. After that,. all bets are off.

The BOJ and the Federal Reserve both announce policy. choices on July 31.

The rate futures market has priced in a 67.2% possibility that. Japan's central bank will raise rates by 10 basis points (bps),. up from a 40% chance earlier in the week, according to LSEG. estimates.

Markets see just a small chance for a Fed rate cut of at. least 25 bps next week, but are completely pricing in a September. reduction, according to CME's FedWatch Tool.

U.S. two-year Treasury yields reduced somewhat in Asian hours. to 4.4348% however were well off the overnight low of. 4.34%, a level last seen in early February.

The 10-year yield was down somewhat at 4.2445%.

Somewhere else in currency markets, the euro increased 0.13%. to $1.0857 and sterling included 0.11% for $1.2864.

Oil prices increased a little as the stronger-than-expected U.S. financial information raised expectations for increased unrefined need. from the world's biggest energy consumer.

Brent unrefined futures for September increased 12 cents to. $ 82.49 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for. September increased 13 cents to $78.41 per barrel.

(source: Reuters)