Forex Marketz Daily Forex News – Fully Markets Update
The financial markets in the Asian and Pacific Rim gained ground by the afternoon. Trader sentiment was slightly improved by trade data out of China for the month of March.
However Covid-19 concerns are capping gains as traders worry about the extent of a global recession.
The Asian benchmark, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 was up 1.88 percent. The Topix index, in Tokyo, gained 0.96 percent.
In Japanese corporate news the Softbank Group announced that their Vision Fund will see a loss of 1.8 trillion Japanese yen for 2019. The company said this was due to a “deteriorating market environment.” Shares of the conglomerate reversed early losses to trade up 3.3 percent.
In South Korea, the Kospi composite index added 1.6 percent by lunchtime. Elsewhere in the Asian and Pacific Rim, the Australian ASX 200 added 0.71 percent.
Asian Traders Digest a Decline in March Chinese Export Data
China released import and export data for March today in yuan denominated terms. Exports declined, on an annual basis, for the Month of March by 3.5 percent.
This is official customs data from the world’s second largest economy. For the quarter, exports fell 11.4 percent from the year previous.
Traders are watching Chinese data closely as their economy coms back to life after being mostly shuttered by the Covid-19 pandemic which delivered a significant economic blow to the country.
The Shanghai composite was up 0.65 percent by noon time and the Shenzhen composite added over one percent.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was up 0.82 percent.
EU Finance Ministers agree on a partial Stimulus Plan
Last week, on Thursday, European Union Finance ministers agreed to 500 billion euro stimulus support for their battered economies. They left the door open on how to finance a recovered for the single monetary bloc as their economies head into a steep recession.
The Coronavirus pandemic has now infected over 1.8 million people around the world. There are 113,849 dead and countries are enforcing strict lockdown protocols to stem the outbreak.
This is forcing central banks to shift to ultra-accommodative monetary policies and governments enacting aggressive fiscal measures.
