Daily market commentary: China surprises oil markets with its decision to pile up crude oil stocks

ActivTrades’ Market Analysts prepared their daily commentary on traditional markets for April 2, 2020. This is not a trading advice. See details below:


FOREX

The US Dollar Index, which measures the performance of the greenback versus a basket of other currencies, was pretty much flat during early Thursday trading. Recently investors had sought refuge in the dollar, with the fallout from the coronavirus creating a very risky trading environment with losses across nearly all sectors. Today however that move towards the dollar is on hold, with all eyes and ears on the US jobless claims due to be published later. Should the numbers mark an improvement on the record 3.3 million new claims released last week, we will probably see a growth in risk appetite which, in the current context, could incite greenback losses. On the other hand, if the new jobless claims number is within last week’s ballpark, fear is likely to once again take over and offer further support to the dollar.

Ricardo Evangelista – Senior Analyst, ActivTrades

GOLD

The gold price is languishing just below $1,600 in a market where volatility seems to be decreasing, at least temporarily. There are no clear directional signals in this phase as gold is facing a mixed set of fundamentals. Investors are worried by the possibility that central banks will reduce their purchases, while also jewellery and industrial demand could decline. They are unsure that investment demand will grow enough to offset this loss.

As mentioned in previous reports, one factor that doesn’t yet seem to be fully priced into the markets is the huge liquidity input that central banks are preparing and this could be a supportive element for the bullion price in the next few months.

Carlo Alberto De Casa – Chief analyst, ActivTrades

Daily Market analysis

EUROPEAN SHARES 

Early declines on European stocks erased the advance registered during pre-market trading with uncertainty reigning everywhere this morning. Despite a new stimulus plan announced by Beijing overnight, investor sentiment continues to be dominated by the recent disappointing developments in the struggle to stem the spread of the coronavirus. The death toll continues to climb in the worst affected countries and the total number of COVID-19 cases gets ever closer to the million mark and this is putting a lot of downward pressure on markets.

China also surprised oil markets with its decision to pile up crude oil stocks following the black gold crash. This had an obvious effect on the barrel price but also a significant impact on energy shares like Total and Eni, which are currently helping the Stoxx-50 Index to offer some resistance against today’s selling pressure.

The most resilient index can be found in Milan this morning where the FTSE-MIB Index registered a solid rebound above 16,000pts, however it remains inside its bearish continuation channel and the market will have to clear short-term resistance 16,655pts to reach 17,070pts.

FTSE-MIB Index chart

Pierre Veyret– Technical analyst, ActivTrades

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