Divergence in Asian stock exchanges… Oil is in a positive area

Divergence in Asian stock exchanges… Oil is in a positive area: 

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has defended the size of President Joe Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion support package to face Coronavirus.

On Thursday, in an interview with CNBC, she said that she hopes to approve the package in the coming weeks.

According to the latest reports, the House of Representatives will vote on the plan next week.

This will be followed by a vote by the Senate before March 14, when additional help for unemployed persons ends.

On the macroeconomic front, it was found that January home sales rose faster than expected. 

Moreover, US manufacturing and services Composite PMI rose from 58.7 in January to 58.8 in February.

All these indicators give a picture of the current and upcoming economic situation.

Evest is following up on the impact of this on trading markets.

Oil compensates last week losses by rising more than 1%

This morning, benchmark oil prices rose by more than 1%,
as experts believe that growth is linked to the uncertainty about the recovery of oil production in the United States of America.

The cost of April futures for Brent crude oil rose by 1.29% to record $ 63.72 a barrel.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil price was at a rate of $ 59.93 a barrel,
which is 1.13% higher than the previous trading session’s closing level.

According to experts, some Texas oil production companies have returned to business but it is not clear whether work will be fully restored or not.

The worst frost in 30 years fell on the United States. It has already claimed 47 lives due to bad weather.

About 300,000 Americans were also left without electricity or water.

Last week, a rise in prices especially in the US state of Texas, the energy center of the world’s largest oil producer was affected by an increase in dynamism after the loss of freezing temperatures that disrupted production.

It is expected that the production of oil fields in the region will take a few days to start.

It is also expected that large and complex refineries will take a few weeks to be restored.

Developments in vaccination studies have raised hopes for a recovery in oil demand which is low because of the Covid-19 epidemic.

Experts noted that oil production in the United States, in the long run, is expected to remain below the required level,
that one of pre-epidemic.

This matter reinforces the perception that supply and demand will be balanced in global markets.

According to weekly data of Oil field services company Baker Hughes,
the number of oil rigs in the United States of America decreased by 1 to 305 in the week from February 13 to 19 compared to the previous week.

Outlook for the country’s oil industry in addition to a decline in the number of Petroleum rigs,
which are indicators of short-term crude oil production for the first time since November due to cold weather in the United States,
also contributed to increased prices.

This week, the US support package is expected to be voted on February 26 in the House of Representatives.

The expectation that the support package would be accepted by the House of Representatives
and its quick transfer to the Senate also contributed to increasing prices.

On another side, although the rate of increase in cases of the Covid-19 virus is slowing,
the risk of a mutation is still causing discomfort in markets.

Asian stock exchanges are between high and low

On Monday, major stock exchanges in Asia failed to find a common trend.

There was no unified trend in stock exchanges in East Asia and Australia on Monday.

Markets continue to navigate the arena of tension between the burden of higher yields
and hope fueled by additional government spending and loose monetary policy around the world.

Focus remains on vaccination campaigns and a decrease in the number of new cases of infections.

While Japan’s leading Nikkei 225 index rose by 0.5% to record 30.156 points in Tokyo,
the CSI-300 index which includes the largest 300 companies listed on mainland China stock exchanges, recently retreated by 2.5%.

According to media reports, vaccinations for elderly people in Japan are set to begin during early April, at a slower pace due to delays in the production of vaccines by Pfizer.

In Hong Kong, Hang Seng Index, the leading indicator there, has been recently down by 0.5%.

In light of the recent spike in bond yields- especially in longer maturities- investors are now feeling the tension that inflation may return too vital.

This casts a shadow on progress made in vaccination against the Corona epidemic.

In Korean markets, the index turned its opening gains into the red. 

The main index was initially driven by auto and technology stocks. 

Investors were encouraged by preliminary trading data which indicated a 17% jump in exports year on year during the first twenty days of February.

Heavyweight Samsung Electronics lead 1%.

Botox manufacturer Daewoong Pharmaceutical rose by 13% after its US partner settled a legal dispute against competitors.

Mobile phone maker Xiaomi index has now become 2.6% in the red area after strong insurance premiums on Friday.

In Europe, broker IG, the leading German index DAX, was estimated by down 0.2% to record 13,964 points, two hours before the start of the trading session. 

DAX has reached a record of 14,169 points, two weeks ago. 

As it was expected, French CAC 40 was retreated by 27 points. British FTSE 100 index also declined by 52 points.

New Bitcoin numbers

Bitcoin rose more than 6%, on Friday and was above $ 55,000, especially after Tesla’s CEO,
Elon Musk once again expressed positivity about cryptocurrency.

Additionally, the total market value of Bitcoin is now over $ 1 trillion.