asia mornimg oct 28

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By :  ,  Financial Analyst

Asia Morning: U.S. Stocks Mixed, Tech Higher

On Tuesday, U.S. stocks closed mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell a further 222 points (-0.80%) to 27463, and the S&P 500 dropped 10 points (-0.30%) to 3390. Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 rebounded 94 points (+0.82%) to 11598 before big technology firms report results.


Nasdaq 100 Index (Daily Chart) : Holding Above 11180

Sources: GAIN Capital, TradingView


The While House hinted that a fiscal stimulus deal is unlikely before the November 3 election.

Retailing (+1.16%), Media (+0.84%) and Technology Hardware & Equipment (+0.81%) sectors performed the best, while Banks (-2.73%), Capital Goods (-2.6%) and Automobiles & Components (-2.09%) sectors lagged behind. Harley-Davidson (HOG +22.07%) became the top gainer after its quarterly results beat market expectations.

Semiconductor designer Advanced Micro Devices (AMD -4.07%) said it has agreed to buy Xilinx (XLNX +8.56%) in a $35 billion all-stock deal.

Approximately 70% (75% in the prior session) of stocks in the S&P 500 Index were trading above their 200-day moving average and 42% (68% in the prior session) were trading above their 20-day moving average.

The VIX Index, Wall Street's fear gauge, charged 0.89 point higher (+2.74%) to 33.35.

In after-market hours, Microsoft (MSFT) declined over 1% despite reporting better-than-expected results.

Regarding U.S. economic data, Durable Goods Orders (preliminary reading) jumped 1.9% on month in September (+0.5% expected). The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index unexpectedly declined to 100.9 in October (102.0 expected).

European stocks remained under pressure. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.95%, Germany's DAX 30 lost 0.93%, France's CAC 40 tumbled 1.77%, and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was down 1.09%.

U.S. Treasury prices extended their rally, as the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield sank further to 0.776%.

Spot gold rose $5 (+0.27%) to $1,907 an ounce.

U.S. WTI crude futures (December) jumped $0.90 (+2.33%) to $39.46 a barrel.

On the forex front, the U.S. dollar held its strength against other major currencies. The ICE Dollar Index edged up to 93.09.

EUR/USD lost the key 1.1800 level as it eased 0.12% to 1.1795, while USD/JPY failed to regain the 105.00 level sliding 0.40% to 104.41.
 
GBP/USD added 0.15% to 1.3044, and AUD/USD edged up to 0.7128 from 0.7123 in the prior session.

USD/CAD retreated 0.21% to 1.3184. Canada's central bank will discuss interest rates later today and is expected to hold its key rate unchanged at 0.25%.

Meanwhile, the Turkish lira hit a record low of 8.2050 against the U.S. dollar, as investors were worried about rising inflation in Turkey.

Related tags: Commodities Equities Indices

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