- Asian shares retrace losses amid off in Japan, China and South Korea.
- RBA left monetary policy unchanged, as expected, while cutting economic forecasts.
- Easing lockdown restrictions, lack of trade-war signs trigger the risk-reset.
- US ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI in focus.
With several economies moving closer to easing the lockdown restrictions, Asian equities manage to cheer the risk reset ahead of the European open on Tuesday. In doing so, the MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares ex-Japan register 0.50% gains by the press time. It’s worth mentioning that markets in Japan, South Korea and China are off, which in turn dims response to the RBA’s monetary policy.
Monday’s upbeat comments from California and New York triggered optimism surrounding the economic restart in the US. The news also favors the oil prices to print five-day winning streak, currently up 6.30% on a day to $21.67.
The RBA matched wide marked anticipation while keeping the current benchmark rate near a record low of 0.25%. However, the Aussie central bank did utter downbeat remarks concerning inflation and unemployment rate. The monetary policy announcement ran together with comments from the Aussie PM and Treasurer that suggest further fiscal aid. As a result, ASX 200 becomes the winner of the day with over 1.40% gains to 5,395 by the time of writing.
Elsewhere, the US-China trade war signs seem to have taken a back seat after the World Health Organization (WHO) said that it didn’t receive any proof from Washington that backs the US allegations on China.
Furthermore, Hong Kong’s HANG SENG defies the drop on GDP whereas New Zealand’s NZX 50 fails to follow ASX 200 following downbeat comments from PM Jacinda Ardern. Additionally, India’s BSE SENSEX and NIFTY 50 also mark mild gains of below 1.0% while following the broad risk reset.
Moving on, the US ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI for April, expected 32 versus 52.5 prior, will be the key for markets amid a light calendar. However, this doesn’t dim the importance of virus/trade updates.
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