It could be a slow news day today with the ASX 200 futures trading flat this morning and the trend set to continue during the day.
It comes after the ASX 200 fell 57 points (-0.76%) on Friday to close at 7,490. The index recorded a 1.5% loss for the week – its first losing week for 2023.
However, the ASX today shouldn’t feel the volatility felt by US markets to close the week.
The S&P 500 bounced from session lows of -0.5% to close in positive territory. The Nasdaq fell for a third straight session dragged down by Lyft’s -36% loss. Lyft suffered a disappointing earnings report and a savage re-rating on the back of that.
Further volatility was caused by Russia’s announcement that it would cut oil production by 5% in retaliation for Western Price caps on Russian oil.
Looking at European markets, they fell for the first time in five sessions on Friday, with word that investors were preparing themselves for a prolonged period of interest rate hikes.
Adidas also came out and said it could post a loss this year for the first time in three decades. Shares in Adidas fell 10.9%.
Travel & Leisure and Retailers lost 3.5-3.9% but Energy rose 2.3%.
The continent-wide FTSEurofirst 300 index lost 0.9%. The UK FTSE 100 index fell 0.4% from record highs.
Here’s what we saw (source Commsec):
The Euro fell from US$1.0752 to lows near US$1.0665 and was near US$1.0675 at the US close.
The Aussie dollar held between US69.09 cents and US69.60 cents and was near US69.15 cents at the US close.
The Japanese yen held between 129.80 yen per US dollar and JPY131.77 was near JPY131.40 at the US close.
Global oil prices rose by more than 2% on Friday as Russia announced plans to reduce oil production in March by 500,000 barrels per day or 5% of output. According to two OPEC+ delegates speaking with Reuters, OPEC+ plans no action. The Brent crude oil price rose by US$1.89 or 2.2% to US$86.39 a barrel.
The US Nymex crude oil price lifted by US$1.66 or 2.1% to US$79.72 a barrel. Over the week Brent crude rose by 8.1% and Nymex crude rose by 8.6%.
Base metal prices fell on Friday. The copper futures price fell by 1.9% in response to weak Chinese demand despite low inventories in Chinese bonded warehouses and London Metal Exchange warehouses. And the aluminium futures price lost 2.4%. Over the week copper fell 0.9% and aluminium fell 4.7%.
The gold futures price fell US$4.00 or 0.2% to US$1,874.50 an ounce. Spot gold was trading near US$1,864 an ounce at the US close. Over the week gold fell by US$2.10 an ounce or 0.1%.
Iron ore futures lifted US49 cents or 0.4% to US$125.14 a tonne. Over the week iron ore fell by US12 cents or 0.1%.