Asian markets mostly up ahead of Powell speech

Asia’s equity markets went into the weekend broadly in positive territory

HONG KONG (AFP) - Asian markets mostly rose yesterday ahead of a key speech by Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell, while the pound held the previous day’s rally fuelled by rekindled hopes for a soft Brexit.

After a positive start to the week sparked by China-US trade hopes, investors have taken a wait-and-see approach ahead of Powell’s address, which will be parsed for clues about the central bank’s plans for monetary policy.

There are hopes he will outline further cuts to borrowing costs, having done so last month for the first time since the financial crisis, but with the US economy in much better health than most others, analysts warn there could be some disappointment.

“One thing to reiterate going into tonight’s speech is that markets seem very clearly positioned for some very dovish guidance from Mr Powell on US interest rates,” said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at OANDA.

“It is a dangerous assumption to make and the corrections across various asset classes if he disappoints could make for a very emotional finish to the week’s trading session.”
That was a sentiment reiterated by New York Mellon chief strategist Alicia Levine, who pointed out that minutes from the Fed’s July meeting showed policymakers were split on the way forward owing to recent upbeat data on the economy.

“The markets want more than the Fed is going to give here,” she told Bloomberg TV.

Still, Asia’s equity markets went into the weekend broadly in positive territory. Tokyo closed 0.4 percent higher, while Hong Kong and Shanghai each finished up 0.5 percent.
Sydney rose 0.3 percent, while Manila, Mumbai, Taipei and Bangkok posted healthy gains.

However, Singapore, Seoul, Wellington, and Jakarta were lower.

London rose 0.7 percent in the morning, Paris added 0.4 percent and Frankfurt rose 0.6 percent.

The mostly positive performance followed a soft lead from Wall Street, where traders took note of another inversion of the US Treasury market -- when the return on 10-year notes fell below that of two-year notes, which is seen as a sign of a possible recession.

On currency markets, high-yielding, riskier units were broadly lower as traders move into the relative safety of the dollar.

The pound slipped from three-week highs after French President Emmanuel Macron echoed German Chancellor Angela Merkel in positive sentiments on a solution to the thorny issue of the Irish border.

Ahead of the G7 summit in Biarritz, France this weekend, Prime Minister Boris Johnson met the leaders to reach an agreement that averts a damaging hard Brexit on October 31.
Sterling has been under constant pressure this year as a hard EU divorce has grown increasingly likely after MPs rejected former premier Theresa May’s exit plan, and then hardline Brexiter Johnson replaced her in July.