Forex Marketz Daily Forex News – Fully Markets Update
Trade volume in the Asian and Pacific Rim was thin as the headline financial markets in China and South Korea were closed for holidays. Asian traders, in other markets, were monitoring recent trade war news between the United States and China as well as digesting the European Central Bank’s monetary policy and rate decision made on Thursday.
Yesterday the European Central Bank Governing Council introduced a new round of Targeted Long-Term Refinance Operations (TLTROs) as well as a new asset purchase of €20 billion to help boost their slowing economy. The ECB also wants to mitigate any further downside risks.
The central bank, also cut their headline interest rate and went deeper into new monetary policy territory. The ECB Governing Council said that interest rates will “remain at their present or lower levels until we have seen the inflation outlook robustly converge to a level sufficiently close to, but below, 2%.”
In Japan, the headline Nikkei 225 was up 0.89 percent. Shares of Fast Retailing gained over 2.1 percent and shares of Softbank added 2.86 percent. In Tokyo, the broader Topix index was up 0.45 percent.
In Hong Kong, the headline Hang Seng index was up over quarter of a percent. Shares of insurance company AIA gained over one percent.
Elsewhere in the Asian and Pacific Rim, the Australian S&P ASX 200 was up 0.2 percent as most of the sub-sectors were trading higher.
Asian traders React to Trade War Developments
Despite President Donald Trump saying he would agree to an interim trade deal with China and China buying a massive amount of soybeans from the United States, traders are not optimistic that the two economic powerhouses will agree to a trade deal anytime soon.
Many economists feeling that the trade war will worsen by the end of the year. Some economists still feel that the U.S. economy could still fall into a recession within two years. This has dampened sentiment and capped gains in the region.
