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Once again, ASX traders were left behind by Wall Street on Friday.
As the ASX 200 rose to 7,348.1 on Friday for a 1% weekly gain, its best in several weeks, the futures market collapsed sharply after a difficult and negative day on Wall Street.
The overnight futures market saw the stock futures contract drop 37 points – at one point it lost over 50 points.
This means a rough opening at ASX this morning – a start that will be made more difficult by the tighter NSW lockdown restrictions on retail and construction announced on Saturday, some starting immediately and others starting immediately. come into force today.
This was after Eurozone stocks fell 0.4% on Friday (and 0.6% for the week) and the US S&P 500 lost 0.8%, reflecting lingering concerns about the upside. inflation and a drop in US consumer confidence that was not offset by a 0.6% increase in retail trade. sales last month as forecasts predicted a decline.
Covid is starting to resonate louder offshore in the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, Indonesia and parts of Europe where the number of cases is increasing thanks to the advent of the Delta variant.
The UK must drop all restrictions this evening, our time, but leaders in London and Scotland have made it clear that there are many areas that mask wear will not be abandoned.
The MSCI All Country Global Equity Index closed 0.62% at 719.17. The index hit a record high earlier in the week, but was down 0.61% by the end of the week as Wall Street suffered its first loss in weeks.
The Dow Jones closed 0.86% on Friday, the S&P 500 slipped 0.75% and the Nasdaq lost 0.80%.
Over the week, the Dow Jones lost 0.53%, the S&P 500 fell 0.97% and the Nasdaq lost 1.87%.
According to the US Department of Commerce, some analysts saw the 0.6% rise in June (as opposed to an expected drop) as adding weight to those who say inflation will be faster than the Federal Reserve forecast and will force interest rates to rise sooner than it expects.
Still, after peaking at 1.341%, bond yields fell, with the benchmark 10-year US Treasury bill trading at 1.2987%, just 0.2 basis points higher on the day. The US dollar strengthened on that day and the Australian dollar fell below 74 US cents.
On Friday, the Biden administration also followed up on a hint earlier in the week that it would warn U.S. companies of the dangers of operating in Hong Kong.
A statement said that U.S. companies with operations in Hong Kong should be wary of the danger of considerable financial and regulatory risks as China continues to restrict political and economic freedoms in the territory.
The opinion states that “businesses face risks associated with warrantless electronic surveillance and handing over data to authorities.”
The Biden administration also imposed sanctions on seven Chinese officials for violating Hong Kong’s autonomy, a move that prompted an immediate Chinese reaction – naturally, it was negative.
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Meanwhile, Britain’s so-called ‘Freedom Day’ today (Monday) looms as a publicity stunt and nothing more as the number of cases peaks in 6 months.
The UK government’s chief medical adviser warned last week that England’s coronavirus crisis could return again surprisingly quickly. Boris Johnson and his government ignore it.
In California, Los Angeles County reimposed its mask mandate last weekend.
In Asia, the largest MSCI index of Asia-Pacific equities excluding Japan fell 0.4%, thanks to a 1.1% drop in the Chinese blue chip index and a decline of 0.8% for Taiwanese stocks.
The Asian weakness on Friday was largely due to weak earnings at TSMC, Asia’s largest non-Chinese company by market value, which saw its stock price drop 4.1% on Friday.
Tokyo had more cases on Friday and the daily count is now well over 1,000 – with isolated cases in and around the Olympics – in the village and visiting teams.
In Australia, BHP shares hit a record high of $ 51.91 and closed with a record close of $ 51.87.
This is despite the weakening of crude steel production in China in June, limited iron ore prices and a drop in iron ore production and sales in the June quarter by rival Rio Tinto.
BHP is due to release its fourth quarter and full year production and sales report tomorrow.
After Rio’s surprise fall, analysts believe BHP will struggle to avoid the impact of bad weather that hit the Pilbara mines in Rio.
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