Asian stock markets ended higher for one more day mirroring Wall Street indices as the Dow Jones index return in the bull market territory.
Investors return to equities for some bottom fishing after the recent sharp correction. Central banks and governments stepped in with emergency relief measures around the globe in an attempt to off-set the coronavirus crisis impact. Coronavirus confirmed cases top 470,000 while the death toll rises to 18,500.
Nikkei 225 ended 3.88% higher at 19389; the Shanghai Composite index closed 0.25% higher at 2772. The Singapore FTSE Straits Times is 1.66% higher at 2528. Hang Seng was 0.55% higher at 23484. The ASX 200 index ended lower, giving up 5.1% at 4842.
European indices started the session lower. The German DAX is 2.22% lower at 9,778. CAC 40 index is 3.18% lower at 4,403, while the FTSE MIB in Milan is 1.93% lower at 17,033. In London, the FTSE 100 is 3.79% lower at 5,595.
In commodities markets, crude oil seesaws around the unchanged level. WTI crude oil is 0.66% higher at $22.75 while the Brent oil is 3.05% lower at $25.98 per barrel.
The gold price is 0.59% lower at 1622. The gold initial resistance stands at $1,703 the monthly high, while the initial support stands at $1,451 the low from March 16 trading session. Silver (XAGUSD) on the other hand is 0.87% higher at $14.44.
Cryptocurrencies trading lower in the early European session. Bitcoin’s (BTCUSD) price is 1.30% lower at $6,673, hitting the daily low at $6,603 and the daily high at $6,860. Bitcoin’s (BTCUSD) technical picture is bearish as the cryptocurrency trading below all the major daily moving averages. The first support for Bitcoin stands now at $4,431 the low from March 14th. On the flip side, immediate resistance stands at $6,860 today’s high while the strong resistance will be met at 10,495 the yearly top.
Ethereum is 1.79% lower, at 136.48 with capitalization at 15.09 billion. The initial resistance for Ethereum stands at 144.05 the weekly high, while the support stands at $102.00 the low from March 16th session. Ripple – XRPUSD is 2.24% lower at 0.1727. Litecoin (LTCUSD) is 1.25% lower at 40.07. The crypto market capitalization stands now at $186.15 billion.
In the Lookout: RBI slashed key repo rate by 75 basis point to 4.40% to fight the coronavirus impact. Turkey Economic Confidence Index came down to 91.8 in March from the previous 97.5. The France Consumer Confidence came in at 103, topping expectations of 92 in March.
Trading Perspective: In the foreign exchange markets, EURUSD is 0.47% higher at 1.0981, the Australian dollar is 0.54% lower at 0.6028 against the U.S. greenback. The Yen is higher against the US Dollar, the USDJPY is 0.71% lower at 108.77. NZDUSD trades 0.74% lower at 0.5914.
