Smorgasbord of market data and drama for Investors

Smorgasbord of market data and drama for Investors to digest

After a week skinny of local data, traders have been spoilt with a smorgasbord of data and drama to sink their teeth into.

Mimicking Wall Street’s nervous sentiments, Tokyo-based stocks have spent most of the trading session in double digit gains, following positive corporate sentiment data earlier in the day. Chinese based equities have taken a 3-day breather in the form of national holidays. China manufacturing PMI data (take 2) came in ever so slightly under market expectation. This prompted the Aussie dollar to ground following this news, shedding almost a third of a cent in the minutes following the news and rebounding back almost as quickly.

Despite the doom and gloom cloud hanging over what seems to be the world, Aussie stocks opened in modest gains. Echoing the feelings of our international counterparts, investors took a “wait and see” approach to developments in the US over the morning session. By lunchtime and for the remainder of the session the local bourse was operating in skinny green territory, a reflection of the possible overselling the occurred in the previous session. The local stock index is poised for a relatively limp close, as investors continue their wait-and-see approach.

2pm AEST unleashed the news Asian markets were waiting on all day, it was official, the US government is in partial lockdown. An event unseen in 17 years was already widely factored in by investors.

In other news, there was the small item of the RBA Cash Rate decision. Re-shifting focus back locally, the RBA decided to leave rates on hold for the time being. A move which was broadly expected by investors, the ASX200 remained relatively unfazed by the news. The dollar on the other hand, was a happy recipient of the RBA’s inaction, spiking upwards of over a third of a cent to reach today’s high of USD0.9375

The Aussie dollar is back exchanging hands in the late USD0.93 ranges. The next direction of the local bourse and currency will be dependant of when and whether the budget tug-of-wall will be resolved in Washington.

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