AUS
NZ
UK
CA
USA
IND
Highlights
- FTSE 100 was in red after China’s industrial production and retail sales data missed the analyst forecast.
- China’s Industrial production grew by 6.4% in July, much below the analysts forecast of 7.8%.
FTSE 100 trades lower by 1.32% at 7,135, on the first trading day of the new week after China reported slowdown in the industrial production and retail sales. China’s industrial production grew by 6.4% year-on-year in July, which was below the forecast of 7.8% by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), mainly due to fresh outbreak of Covid-19 in the country and flooding in many parts of the country which led to business disruption last month. Meanwhile, the Mid-cap focused FTSE250 was down by 0.51% at 23667 levels.
European Markets
Major European market indexes are also in the negative terrain. German blue-chip DAX index is down by 0.58% at 15,884, while the benchmark index of France, CAC 40, was at 6,882, down by 1.07%. Markets in the region are trading down taking cues from the Asian markets, majority of whom closed in red after data released by China, signalled fear of global slowdown amongst investors.
Currency Markets
The Pound trade lower at 1.3838, down by 0.18% against the dollar, the dollar edged higher against the major European currencies but is still near a one-week low, as recent rise in the Covid-19 cases and lower US consumer sentiments data could delay the tapering of the Federal Reserve bond buying program. The EUR/ GBP currency pair traded at 0.8514, up by 0.11%.
Commodities
WTI crude oil future contract traded at USD 65.56, down by 3.89%, while the Brent crude oil trades at USD 68.17, down by 3.43%. Crude oil prices are down to a one-week low after slowdown in the Chinese economy, which is world’s second largest crude oil market. The crude oil processing also fell to its lowest levels in the country since May 2020, indicating lower demand for fuel after the recent rise of the Delta variant cases in the country.
Meanwhile, the Gold futures contract was trading in the green, up by 0.51% at USD 1787 per ounce.
Asian Markets
Major Asia Pacific indexes closed in the red. Australia’s ASX200 closed at 7,582, down by 0.61%. Nikkei 225 of Japan also closed in the red, down by 1.62% at 27523, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index closed down by 0.80% at 26,181. On the other hand, India’s Nifty 50 closed at 16,563, up by 0.21% and China’s Shanghai Composite closed at 3,517 marginally up by 0.03%.
