Market Update & Important Indicators:
U.S. stocks rose intraday, putting the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 on track for gains for the first time in five sessions, as concerns over the Turkish lira's recent slide appeared to ease. The Dow industrials added 142 points, or 0.6%, to 25329, while the S&P 500 gained 0.7%. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.7%. Stocks have been under pressure in recent sessions as investors worried that Turkey's economic crisis could spread to other emerging markets, but analysts said the rebound shows that investors are reassessing the risk of contagion. The Turkish lira rose 8.6% against the dollar after plunging as much as 10% in the previous session. Turkey's central bank on Monday introduced measures to boost liquidity in the market, but investors remain concerned that the bank isn't independent from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He has blamed the U.S. and social media for the country's economic troubles. The US Gold price increased 0.1% to 1,193.70 US$/oz.
European stocks ended essentially at the flat line, but with enough of a move to mark the first advance in three sessions, as Turkey's currency meltdown showed signs of steadying. The Stoxx Europe 600 finished virtually unchanged at 384.92, rising less than a point after shedding 0.3% on Monday amid escalating worries about Turkey's plunging lira. The index shows a decline of 0.2% so far this week and a 1.1% retreat so far in 2018, according to FactSet data. Germany's DAX 30 ended at break-even levels at 12,358.87, tacking on less than a point, after closing Monday's session down 0.5%, while France's CAC 40 declined 0.2% to 5,403.42, following a decline of about 0.1% in the previous session. The U.K.'s FTSE 100, meanwhile, finished with a loss of 0.4% to 7,611.64.
After Monday's broad declines for most Asian equities, it was much more of a mixed picture. Southeast Asia markets, which are most closely akin to Turkey, saw further declines with benchmarks in the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia falling 1% — the latter after a 3.6% slump which was the JSX's largest in 21 months. But Japan's Nikkei jumped 2.3% as the yen pulled back, allowing that stock benchmark to fully erase Monday's skid. Meanwhile, South Korean stocks reversed a bit of Monday's noted pullback even as the country's equities finished near session highs. The Kospi rose 0.5% to 2258.91 as some construction-related names bounced strongly. The Shanghai Composite Index was 0.2% lower and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.8%.
Australia's stock benchmark has a rare distinction in being up for the week with the day's gains. After falling less than nearly every other major index in Asia Pacific on Monday, the
S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.7% to 6298.7, coming in just short of last month's latest 10 1/2-year closing high. Banks rose some 1%, led by NAB's 1.5% gain following its quarterly results. Commodities also did well while yield plays like REITs and utilities also advancing nearly 1%. But health care, the Aussie market's best-performing this year with a 27% pop, edged lower. Among individual names, retailer JB Hi-Fi jumped 5% in a second-day move after little movement following Monday's fiscal year report.
Base metal prices were down on the London Metal Exchange. Lead was the biggest mover down 2.8% to 2,0521/t, followed by the 3-month copper contract and tin, both down 1.9%. Zinc lost 1.3% to end at 2,438/t. Nickel lost 0.9% to close at 13,328/t.
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