Asian Morning Brief APR 23 THU

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By :  ,  Financial Analyst

Asian Morning Brief: APR 23 (THU)

On Wednesday U.S. stocks rebounded as investors were relieved by oil prices recovering from record lows.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 456 points (+2.0%) to 23,475, the S&P 500 rose 62 points (+2.3%) to 2,799, and the Nasdaq 100 was up 261 points (+3.1%) to 8,664.

Nasdaq 100 Index: Daily Chart


Source: GAIN Capital, TradingView


Semiconductor Equipment (+6.01%), Consumer Services (+4.71%) and Software & Services (+3.61%) sectors led the market.

Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG +12.2%), Lam Research (LRCX +11.6%), Twitter (TWTR +10.5%), Halliburton (HAL +10.3%) and Expedia (EXPE +7.3%) were among the biggest gainers.

Facebook (FB +6.7%) announced plan to acquire a 10% stake in Jio Platforms, India's largest mobile services provider, for 5.7 billion dollars.

Meanwhile, Biogen (BIIB -9.4%) and L Brands (LB -15.5%) suffered significant losses.

On the technical side, about 17.4% of stocks in the S&P 500 Index were trading above their 200-day moving average and 66.5% were trading above their 20-day moving average.

Later today, investors will focus on U.S. reports on Initial Jobless Claims for the week ended April 18 (4.500 million expected), the Markit U.S. Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index for April (preliminary reading, 35.0 expected), and New Home Sales for March (an annualized rate of 640,000 units expected).

Meanwhile, the U.S, Senate passed another coronavirus relief package worth 484 billion dollars.

In Germany, shops are allowed to open, while people should wear face masks in public as a compulsory act.

European stocks were broadly higher, with the Stoxx Europe 600 Index rising 1.8%. Germany's DAX climbed 1.6%, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 increased 2.3%, and France's CAC was up 1.3%.

U.S. Treasury prices eased, lifting the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield up by 4.7 basis points to 0.618%.

Spot gold bounced 28 dollars (+1.7%) to $1,713 an ounce.

Oil prices showed signs of relief from dramatic losses in prior sessions, as investors expected demand for fuel to rebound along with the U.S. economy reopening. Oil prices were also boosted by heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran. President Donald Trump said he has ordered the U.S. Navy to shoot down and destroy Iranian gunboats if they provok U.S. ships in the region.

U.S. WTI crude oil futures jumped 19.1% to $13.78 a barrel. Brent crude oil futures marked a 21-year low of $16.01 a barrel before bouncing back to settle at $20.37 a barrel, up 5.4% on day.

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