Market Drivers – Asian Session 22-10-2021

On Friday, risk appetite returned to Asia after China’s Evergrande paid about $83.5 million in bond interest, Reuters reports citing China’s Securities Times.

Reuters reported that the debt-laden Chinese real estate developer paid the amount on Thursday, October 21. Evergrande transferred the money to a trust account to pay the interest on the bonds, which was due on September 23; this saved the real estate giant from officially defaulting.

Another payment of $45 million is due on October 29, which was also due in late September with a 30-day grace period.

Japan’s Nikkei edged up on Friday, but gains were limited by uncertainty about a US interest rate hike ahead of Japan’s general election and corporate earnings season.

The Nikkei rose 0.34 percent to close at 28,804.85 points after gaining 0.98 percent earlier in the session, thanks to news that Evergrande had made interest payments on bonds. The Nikkei was down 0.9 percent for the week.

The broader TOPIX index rose 0.7 percent to 2002.23 points. The ASX 200 traded marginally lower, about 0.2%, amid mixed global cues and domestic economic reopening efforts.

Gold prices witnessed an increase during the trading session on Friday during the Asian session, and prices were able to recover from the losses of the last session when they fell towards the levels of 1780 dollars an ounce.

At 6:40 am GMT, gold futures rose 0.61% to $1,792 an ounce. On the other hand, the US dollar index DXY, which measures a basket of six major currencies, declined by 0.08% towards the level of 93.68 points.

According to data released in Japan earlier today, Japan’s National Core Consumer Price Index (CPI) grew 0.1% year-on-year in September. The data also showed that the national consumer price index grew by 0.4% monthly and 0.2% annually.

Brent crude futures fell 50 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $84.11 a barrel by 0645 GMT, after losing $1.21 in the previous session.

Brent touched a three-year high of $86.10 on Thursday, but was on track to fall 0.9 percent this week, its first weekly decline since Sept. 3.US West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 49 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $ 82.01 a barrel, after losing 92 cents on Thursday.

On Friday, Melbourne residents flocked to bars, restaurants, and beauty salons after the city lifted one of the world’s toughest lockdowns to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Eurozone Manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) arrived at 58.5 in October vs. 57.0 expectations and 58.6 last. The index hit eight-month lows.

The bloc’s Services PMI dropped to six-month lows of 54.7 in October vs. 55.5 expected and 56.4 previous.