Market Commentary: Friday 9th August

Asian equities rose in early trading on Friday after stronger than expected jobs data from the US was released on Thursday, US jobless claims came in at 233k, below the 250k consensus, thus easing concerns triggered by a weak payrolls report last week. The rally has since lost momentum, particularly for Japanese shares as the yen resumes its rise. The Topix narrowed its gain to 0.6% from as much as 2% earlier, after the Japanese currency strengthened against the dollar, putting a damper on the country’s stocks as it erodes export competitiveness. Consumer prices in China rose more than expected in July, according to official data published on Friday. The country’s consumer price index rose 0.5% year on year, beating forecasts of a 0.3%. Pork prices, a major component of China’s consumer goods basket, leapt 20% over the month, helping to boost overall prices. Chinese shares are largely flat after their earlier rally as perceptions have grown that the better-than-expected inflation print mainly resulted from seasonal factors such as the weather. Oil has been following a Thursday rally as tensions in the Middle East continue to boil. Spot gold fell 0.2% to $2,422.73 an ounce, while steel and Aluminium producers in Canada were encouraging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government to impose new tariffs on Chinese products, as metals from the Asian powerhouse are flooding the Canadian market and threatening local jobs. In crypto markets, Bitcoin rose 2.3% to $60,882 and Ether rose 3.7% to $2,665.Data wise today, we have Canadian unemployment at 1:30pm.

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