Equity Brief Profittaking in Asian stocks ahead of US GDP

Stock market snapshot as of [26/07/2019 0500 GMT]

• Ahead of the European opening session, Asian stocks markets dropped into the red following overnight weakness seen in the key benchmark U.S. stock indices. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 have shed -0.53% and 1.01% respectively after hitting fresh all-time highs on Wed, 24 Jul.
• Mix U.S. earnings reports on key corporations are also giving the excuse to profit-take ahead of the weekend. Positive earnings results from Google parent Alphabet and Intel that have managed to beat estimates while e-commerce juggernaut Amazon’s earnings disappoint.
• Japan’s Nikkei 225 which has declined by 0.58% below the 21900/22000 medium-term range resistance reinforced by downbeat earnings results from component stocks; Nissan Motor shed 2.5% after it unveiled its biggest restructuring plan in a decade in the wake of a collapse in its quarterly profit.
• The worst performer as at today’s Asian mid-session is Singapore’s STI which has tumbled by 0.85%, its worst intraday drop in three weeks. The biggest drag is from a key component stock, Singapore Telecommunications that has dropped by 4.3% after ex-dividend; on track for its worst weekly performance in three years. Also, economic growth in Singapore continues to deteriorate where June’s industrial output fell -6.9% y/y from -2% y/y in May that recorded its 4th consecutive month of y/y decline.
• German DAX CFD futures is showing a modest gain of 0.30% at this juncture after it tumbled by 1.28% to close back below 12500 at the end of yesterday, 25 Jul European session. Also, ECB has signalled a rate cut on its key deposit rate in the coming Sep meeting after yesterday’s monetary policy meeting.

Up Next

• U.S Q2 preliminary GDP at 1230 GMT where consensus is set at 1.8% y/y that may show business investment posted its first decline in three years.

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*Data from Refinitiv. Index names may not reflect tradable instruments and not all markets are available in all regions.