Asia morning update: Positive leads for markets

The focal point would lie ahead to both the set of Chinese data and the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) rhetoric.

After shedding approximately 3.5% between Friday and Monday’s session, the US tech sector in the S&P 500 index steadied ahead of the Fed FOMC meeting. Tuesday’s move in the tech sector could be seen as a continuation of the buyback into the sector before the steadying of prices ahead of the Fed meet. As the second strongest gainer, the upmove had certainly helped the overall S&P 500 index to lift off from the recent trough.

Correspondingly, the CBOE’s volatility index receded to end the session below 10.50% as the S&P 500 index closed at a record high. Although a certain degree of calm appears to have returned to equity markets, a repeat of the sell-off cannot be ruled out with the high valuations likely registering itself as a more prominent cause for concern. For now, the central bank meetings certainly grabs the attention.

Asian markets

Asian markets are expected to pick up on the positive leads from US markets and exhibit more synchronised gains this morning. Notably, the US dollar softened overnight with the CAD and the GBP gaining grounds, which could support gains for regional markets. USD/JPY however, have held in a consolidation trend ahead of both the Fed and BoJ meetings. Early movers including the KOSPI 200 and Nikkei 225 was were last seen with gains and the Hong Kong and Singapore markets are expected to follow.

A point to note would be the Chinese data due soon. For China’s May retail sales data, the market has been expecting the growth momentum to remain unchanged, a likely scenario given the strong imports we have seen leading up to this week. On the other hand, industrial production and fixed asset investments would likely be scrutinised with higher intensity by the market with latent concerns of a production slowdown for China.

Watch list

China’s May retail sales, industrial production and fixed asset investments updates will be due 10am Singapore time. Japan’s industrial production and capacity utilisation data are expected to follow.

The highlight of the day would be the Fed FOMC meeting decision due 2am Singapore time tomorrow, post the retail sales and consumer inflation data from the US.

Yesterday: S&P 500 +0.45%; DJIA +0.44%; DAX +0.59%; FTSE -0.15%