Asia Morning Sep 25

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By :  ,  Financial Analyst

Asia Morning: U.S. Stocks Stabilize

On Thursday, U.S. stocks closed modestly higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 52 points (+0.20%) to 26815, the S&P 500 added 9 points (+0.30%) to 3246, and the Nasdaq 100 was up 63 points (+0.58%) to 10896.


Dow Jones Industrial Average Index: Daily Chart


Sources: GAIN Capital, TradingView


Meanwhile, market sentiment was capped by weak labor market data. U.S. official data showed that Initial Jobless Claims unexpectedly rose to 870,000 for the week ended September 19 (840,000 expected) and Continuing Claims declined to 12.58 million (12.28 million expected).

Utilities (+1.17%), Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment (+1.12%) and Food, Beverage & Tobacco (+0.88%) sectors performed the best. Darden Restaurants (DRI +8.12%), Goldman Sachs (GS +4.83%) and Freeport-McMoRan (FCX +4.13%) were top gainers, while CarMax (KMX -11.00%) and Accenture (ACN -7.04%) were top losers.   

Approximately 54% (58% in the prior session) of stocks in the S&P 500 Index were trading above their 200-day moving average and 8% (21% in the prior session) were trading above their 20-day moving average.

Meanwhile, U.S. New Home Sales spiked to an annualized rate of 1.011 million units in August (890,000 units expected).

European stocks had a down day. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index lost 1.02%, Germany's DAX 30 fell 0.29%, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 shed 1.30%, and France's CAC 40 was down 0.83%.

U.S. Treasury prices advanced, as the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield ticked down to 0.665%.

Spot gold marked a day-low of $1,848 an ounce before closing at $1,867, up $4.00 on day and halting a three-day decline.

U.S. WTI crude oil futures (November) rose 1.0% to $40.31 a barrel.

On the forex front, the ICE U.S. Dollar Index eased 0.1% on day to 94.33, after reaching a two-month high.

EUR/USD gained 0.1% to 1.1675, halting a four-day decline. The Germany IFO Business Climate Index climbed to 93.4 in September (93.8 expected) from 92.5 in August and Expectations Index rose to 97.7 (98.0 expected) from 97.2.

GBP/USD rebounded 0.3% to 1.2755, snapping a four-day losing streak.  The U.K. recorded 6,634 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, the most in a single day, according to Public Health England.

USD/JPY edged up 0.1% to 105.43, up for a fourth straight session.

Commodity-linked currencies were mixed against the greenback. AUD/USD fell 0.3% to 0.7056, posting a five-day decline, NZD/USD gained 0.1% to 0.6552, while USD/CAD dropped 0.3% to 1.3349.


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