Will Russia Default??

Asia Pacific stocks were mostly down on Monday morning. The Shanghai Composite is up 2.41% at 3,047.06. Overall, the Singapore MSCI is down 0.88% at 311.05. Over in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index is down 1.30% at 20,731. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 is down 0.22% at 26,810.00, while the Topix index is down 0.37% at 1896.00. South Korea’s Kospi is down 0.28% at 2687.45. Australia S&P/ASX 200 down 1.18% at 7347.00.

Top News of the Day:

Russia may have averted default as it announced it had made several overdue payments in dollars on its overseas bonds, shifting the market’s focus to upcoming payments and whether it would stave off a historic default.

Russia’s $40 billion in international bonds and the chance of a default have become the focus of global financial markets since it was hit with sanctions from the United States and its allies after its invasion of Ukraine in late February.

Market Summary as per 29/04/2022:

European equities Friday closing. The DAX futures contract in Germany traded up 0.84% at 14,097.88, CAC 40 futures down 0.99% at 6469.12 and the UK 100 futures contract in the U.K. up 0.47% at 7,544.56.

In the U.S. on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 2.77% at 32977.22. The S&P 500 down 3.63% at 4131.92 and the Nasdaq 100 down 4.47% at 12854.80, NYSE closes down 2.60% at 15615.25.

Top Market News Today:

In the Forex market, GBPUSD up 0.01% at 1.2568. The USDJPY up 0.27% at 130.202. The USDCHF down 0.09% at 0.9724. EURUSD up 0.10% at 1.0550, EUR/GBP up 0.15% at 0.8394. The USD/CNY flat at 6.6080 at the time of writing.

In the Commodity market U.S. Gold futures down 0.63% at $1,883.60. Elsewhere, Silver futures up 0.03% at $22.760 per ounce, Platinum up 0.64% at $937.00 per ounce, and Palladium down 1.96% at $2275.00.

Crude Oil up on Monday; Brent crude oil up 0.04% at $106.53 per barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (CLc1) up 0.03% at $103.20.

In the Cryptocurrency Markets, Bitcoin at 38955.00 up 1.75%, Ethereum up 2.87% at 2863.50, Litecoin at 100.89 up 1.38%, at the time of writing.

Top Market Segment to Watch Out Today:

GOLD: Gold prices fell on Monday as elevated U.S. Treasury yields pressured demand for zero-yield bullion, ahead of a widely expected big interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve to contain rising inflationary pressures.

Spot gold retreated 0.4% to $1,888.56 per ounce, as of 0241 GMT. U.S. gold futures dropped 1.3% to $1,886.90.

Economic News:

US: U.S. natural gas production growth is waning at the same time many countries are looking for new suppliers to help break their dependence on Russian gas after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

The United States is already the world’s largest producer of natural gas. But the two mainstays of production – the Appalachian region and West Texas – are seeing growth slow, with companies blaming lack of adequate pipeline infrastructure, despite prices near 14-year highs.

Since Moscow invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, U.S. gas prices have soared about 50% as European countries look to the United States, the world’s second biggest exporter, to sell more liquefied natural gas (LNG) to wean Europe off Russian fuel.

Eurozone: Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed a decree cutting the state-backed mortgage rate and extending the programme, part of wider measures aimed at stimulating economic growth.

Russia is grappling with the fallout from Western sanctions over what Moscow calls a special military operation in Ukraine to demilitarise its neighbour and rid it of extreme anti-Russian nationalism.

The state-backed mortgage scheme that has helped support a construction boom in Russia had been due to expire on July 1. It will now run through the end of 2022 and the rate will be cut to 9% from 12%, the government said on Sunday.

Top Economic Releases Today:

1. GERMANY Manufacturing PMI (Apr) today at 3:55 this time estimated 54.10, previously which was 56.90.
2. 56.50.
3. U.S. ISM Manufacturing PMI (Apr) today at 10:00 this time estimated 57.60, previously which was 57.10.

• NEW ZEALAND Building Consents (MoM) (Mar) today at 18:45 previously which was 10.5%
• GERMANY Retail Sales (MoM) (Mar) today at 2:00 this time estimated 0.3%, previously which was 0.3%.

TECHNICAL SUMMARY

GBPUSD

TRADE SUGGESTION- SELL AT 1.2577, TAKE PROFIT AT 1.2533 AND STOP LOSS AT 1.2606

EURUSD

TRADE SUGGESTION- SELL AT 1.0534, TAKE PROFIT AT 1.0508 AND STOP LOSS AT 1.0564

USDJPY

TRADE SUGGESTION- BUY AT 130.104, TAKE PROFIT AT 130.975 AND STOP LOSS AT 129.559

USDCHF

TRADE SUGGESTION- BUY AT 0.9731, TAKE PROFIT AT 0.9749 AND STOP LOSS AT 0.9715

NIKKEI 225

TRADE SUGGESTION- SELL AT 26784.00 TAKE PROFIT AT 26527.00 AND STOP LOSS AT 27016.00

WTI CRUDE OIL

TRADE SUGGESTION- SELL AT 101.76 TAKE PROFIT AT 99.77 AND STOP LOSS AT 104.42

GOLD

TRADE SUGGESTION- SELL AT 1881.96, TAKE PROFIT AT 1869.70 AND STOP AT 1889.15

ETHEREUM

TRADE SUGGESTION- SELL AT 2825.12 TAKE PROFIT AT 2760.38 AND STOP AT 2913.14