Forex Marketz Daily Forex News – Fully Markets Update
The equities in the Asian and Pacific Rim remain on the defensive. Regional Asian sentiment remains risk off as traders worry about the rising death toll of China’s Corona virus outbreak and the speed of how the virus is spreading.
The mainland financial markets on the mainland in China remain closed for the Chinese Lunar Holiday.
In Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 was down 1.84 percent and the broader Topix index, in Tokyo, shed 1.77 percent by the afternoon.
In South Korea, the Kospi composite index fell 1.45 percent. Shares of Samsung Electronics tumbled 2.5 percent after the company reported that a 34 percent fall in fourth quarter operating profit.
Elsewhere in the Asian and Pacific Rim, the Australian headline benchmark, the S&P ASX 200 was also trading lower. Shares on the Australian bourse fell 0.42 percent.
In Hong Kong, shares on the Hang Seng index continued their journey lower. This benchmark led the region’s major indices in losses as they shed 1.72 percent by the afternoon.
The only other benchmark to fair worse was the Taiex in Taiwan. Shares on this index plunged 5.25 percent after lunchtime.
Asian Traders wait on the BOE and Look towards U.S. GDP Data
Looking at the economic calendar, all eyes are on the Bank of England today. The BOE will be delivering their first monetary policy and rate decision for 2019.
There is a chance they could cut their overnight refinance rate by 25 basis points or, at the very least, signal a shift towards the dovish side as Brexit goes into effect.
The Eurozone economic calendar will be publishing employment data out of Germany, Italy and the Eurozone.
On the calendar, out of the United States, the world’s largest economy will release the first look at their fourth quarter gross domestic product (GDP). Analysts are expecting the U.S. economy to expand by at least 2.1 percent in the last quarter of 2019.
