Chinese trade data lifts Asian markets
With the overnight treasury auctions passing without incident, Wall Street equities continued to rise modestly. The street was pricing in no US CPI surprises and anticipating another solid quarterly earnings season kicking off this week.
The rose 0.35%, the by 0.21%, and the by 0.37%, with the futures in Asia settling into a pre-CPI waiting game.
That was enough on its own to greenlight a positive start to trading in Asia, which was boosted by impressive China trade data this morning as well.
The June surplus rose to billion, with June Exports YoY increasing , and June Imports YoY increasing by , crushing the consensus forecast.
The robust China trade data will be a shot in the arm for Asia, though, and a sense of relief across the region will be palpable, as positive news is certainly needed with the resurgence of COVID.
Japan’s and South Korea’s both climbed 0.75% higher today. Mainland China’s and edged 0.30% higher, with no signs of clampdown nerves showing today.
Hong Kong’s leapt by 1.60% after Tencent (OTC:) gained unconditional approval from the Chinese Government to complete an acquisition. and rose 0.75%, with and climbing 0.35%, while edged 0.10% lower following the BI growth downgrade.
The prospect of an extended lockdown in Sydney has not dented confidence in Australia, with resources and banks outperforming and a federal support package announcement imminent for NSW. The rose 0.20%, while the was 0.40% higher.
European stock markets should follow the default setting from Wall Street and Asia and rise gently at the commencement of trading. Only a surprise jump in and inflation data is likely to crack confidence ahead of the US inflation data later this evening. Otherwise, I expect equity markets to market time ahead of that release.