Asian stock markets advanced on Monday after Wall Street indexes rose despite weak U.S. jobs data – American employers cut a record-setting 20.5 million jobs in April. On Sunday’ China’s central bank promised to use more powerful policies to support economic recovery and job creation. However, China’s Shanghai Composite Index failed to preserve gains and finished 0.01% lower. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong advanced 1.5%. The Kospi was 0.5% lower and Sydney’s S&P/ASX 200 added 1.3%.
European stocks turned lower after earlier bullish attempts. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Sunday announced a relaxation of restrictions. Despite this, the UK’s FTSE 100 index dipped 0.33%. Us stock futures gave up early gains and turned negative as well.
Meanwhile, the dollar is mixed against the majors. EURUSD has settled in a tight range and struggles for direction marginally above the 1.08 handle. the pair suffered decent losses last week and will likely remain vulnerable as long as the prices stay below the 1.09 handle. GBPUSD dipped after two days of gains. The pair remains below the significant 50-DMA a pickup in the USD demand. The cable is also pressure by a split on Johnson’s coronavirus strategy. The pair now needs to hold above 1.23 in order to avoid deeper losses.
Elsewhere, gold prices have settled marginally below the $1,700 handle, and it looks like the bulls will further refrain from initiating long positions in the short term. the precious metal was rejected from the levels above $1,720 last week, and it may take some time before investors resume buying.
In other markets, bitcoin is making modest recovery attempts after a fairly aggressive sell-off witnessed over the weekend. BTCUSD still struggles to regain the $9,000 handle as traders are anxious ahead of the halving event. Once above this level, the cryptocurrency will target $9,300 and then may extend gains above $9,500. On the downside, an important support cones at $8,000, where the 100- and 200-DMAs lie.
