Global Fundamental Analysis 29/05/2020

Australian Market

US Market

A rally in U.S. stocks came to an abrupt halt after President Trump said he would hold a press conference on China, raising jitters about a fresh standoff between the world’s two largest economies.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 147.63 points, or 0.6%, to 25400.64, reversing course after two days of gains earlier this week. The blue-chip index had been up more than 210 points prior to Mr. Trump’s comments in the afternoon. The president said he would announce a response to China’s push for tighter security controls on Hong Kong.

The S&P 500 gave up its gains to close down 6.40 points, or 0.2%, to 3029.73. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite declined 43.37 points, or 0.5%, to 9368.99.
Recent moves by Washington and Beijing have fueled concerns about a renewed U.S.-China trade war, even as both economies are still reeling from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Commodities

Gold futures finished slightly higher as China-U.S. tensions remained in focus, driving haven buying on Wall Street.  August gold, which is now the most-active contract, ended $1.50, or 0.1%, higher at $1,728.30 an ounce, well off its intraday high at $1,743.70.

Oil Futures

Oil futures reversed early losses to end strongly higher, with traders looking past a sharp rise in overall crude inventories to focus on a further decline in stocks at the futures delivery hub in Cushing, Okla., and a drop in gasoline inventories.
West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 90 cents, or 2.7%, to finish at $33.71 a barrel. The Energy Information Administration reported a rise in crude inventories of 7.9 million barrels last week, but supplies at Cushing dropped by 3.4 million barrel. Gasoline inventories, meanwhile, declined by 700,000 barrels.

Forex

The U.S. dollar weakened 0.6% against the euro and 0.1% against the yen, and the WSJ Dollar Index recently fell 0.3%, after U.S. jobless claims fell, even if they are still historically high.

European Markets

European sharemarkets lifted on Thursday with the panEuropean STOXX 600 index closing 1.6% higher at 11-week highs. Shares of UK cinema operator Cineworld rose 21.4% after the cinema chain received a liquidity boost from lenders ahead of plans to reopen in July. The German Dax index lifted 1.1%. And the UK FTSE index was up 1.2% with London-listed shares of Rio Tinto (+0.7%) and BHP (+1.1%) both up.

Asian Markets

Earlier in the day in Asia, Japanese shares rose, as auto and financial stocks gained on hopes that regular economic activities would resume. Nissan Motor jumped 8.2% and Dai-ichi Life added 4.8%. The Nikkei Stock Average rose 2.3% to 21916.31.

China’s Shanghai Composite ticked up 0.3% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.8%. South Korean stocks ended lower following the central bank’s bleak growth outlook,
erasing earlier gains. The benchmark index Kospi edged down 0.1% to close at 2028.54. Construction and shipbuilding stocks led the declines. The Bank of Korea cut its base rate to a record low, expecting the coronavirus pandemic to drag the country’s growth to its lowest level in more than two decades. U.S.-China trade tensions also hurt investor sentiment.