Nikada
Japan -1.23%. Japan logs its first trade surplus in almost two years in June.
China -0.51%. The People’s Bank of China kept its one and five-year loan prime rates unchanged at 3.55% and 4.2% respectively.
Hong Kong +0.21%.
Australia +0.04%. Australia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 3.5% in June 2023, unchanged from a downwardly revised figure in May, remaining close to last October’s 50-year lows. and below market expectations of 3.6%.
India -0.04%.
Malaysia’s trade surplus increased to MYR 25.8 billion in June 2023 from MYR 23.2 billion in the same month a year earlier and coming more than market estimates of MYR 21.6 billion.
In the U.S. on Wednesday, all three major indexes ended higher as the second quarter earnings season picked up steam. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fluctuated through the end and finally eked out gains of 0.03% to close at 14,358.02 points. The benchmark S&P 500 added 0.24% to end at 4,565.69 points. Meanwhile, the blue-chip Dow advanced 0.31% to finish at 35,060.81 points.
Coming up in the session: German PPI for June at 6:00 GMT and Eurozone current account balance for May at 8:00 GMT.
On Friday, we get final Japan inflation report for June before next week’s BOJ meeting at 7.30 pm ET.
Oil prices slipped in early Asian trade on Thursday on dollar strength, profit-taking after U.S. crude oil stocks fell less than expected. Brent futures dipped 14 cents, or 0.2%, to $79.32 a barrel by 0001 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 15 cents to $75.20 a barrel.
Gold rose above $1,980 an ounce on Thursday, hitting its strongest levels in two months as easing US inflation raised hopes that the Federal Reserve is close to the end of its current monetary policy tightening cycle.
Spot gold rose 0.4% to $1,984.29 per ounce by 0521 GMT, close to its highest since mid-May. U.S. gold futures were up 0.3% to $1,987.20.
Spot silver rose 0.2% to $25.21 per ounce, platinum was down 0.1% to $971.87 while palladium slipped 0.6% to $1,300.21.
Currencies: (JPY:USD), (CNY:USD), (AUD:USD), (INR:USD), (HKD:USD), (NZD:USD).
U.S. stock futures fell on Thursday as the latest quarterly results from key technology names disappointed the market: Dow -0.02%; S&P 500 -0.17%; Nasdaq -0.46%.
More on the markets
- Global X sees reasons for optimism in H2, cites AI as a growth engine
-
Invesco’s Kristina Hooper says the US dollar will continue to weaken
