Sentiment of investors is improving in the first trading day of the week, after growth of crude oil prices. The investors continue to look forward to the upcoming G20 summit and the expected talk between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Markets continue following the processes around Brexit. On Sunday, the EU leaders unanimously approved the Brexit agreement. Shortly thereafter, British Prime Minister Theresa May urged British citizens to support her Brexit plan, saying that a "bright future" is ahead of the country.
According to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, the agreement reached between the EU and the United Kingdom is "the only one possible". He called for this to be taken into account in the forthcoming vote of British MEPs.
The crude oil markets were in the focus of investors. On Friday, the price of Brent oil futures with January delivery declined by 4.2% on London trade to 59.8 USD per barrel. The price of Brent fell below the threshold of 60 USD per barrel for the first time since October 28, 2017.
Pressure on oil markets also remains due to the slowdown in demand growth, which is expected to lead to oversupply in 2019.
Asia markets recap
Asia stock exchanges ended the first session of the week with mixed results.
On the Chinese markets, the index Shanghai Composite dropped by 0.14% and ended the day at 2,575.81 points. The Hong Kong's index Hang Seng rose by 1.73%, or 448.50 points, to 23,376.18 points. Investors are following every news story about preparations for a meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. the shares of PetroChina and China Petroleum & Chemical dropped 0.52% and 0.86% respectively.
In Japan, the blue-chip index Nikkei 225 rose by 165.45 points, or 0.76%, to 21,812 points. The oil companies in the country reported declines in the value of their shares amid collapse of commodity futures. The stocks JXTG and Japan Petroleum Exploration declined by 2.26% and 2.70% respectively. The shares of Fuji Oil wiped out of their value 1.60%.
In South Korea, the index Kospi rose by 1.24%, S-Oil fell by 3.21% and that of SK Innovation by 1.75%.
Australian benchmark S&P ASX 200 ended the session with a decline of 0.78% to 5,671.60 points, with energy companies declining by 2.46%.
European mid-session recap
The German stocks rallied on Monday as Italian political risks eased and investors waited to see whether UK Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit withdrawal agreement would pass the House of Commons. A closely watched survey showed a slightly bigger-than-expected decline in German business confidence in November after GDP declined by 0.2% in third quarter compared with the previous three-month period. The Ifo institute's confidence index dropped to 102 points from 102.9 in October while economists expected it to decline to 102.3 points. The German index DAX 30 started the session with strong increases, adding 152 points (1.37%) to 11,345.57 points at
The Paris Stock Exchange opens the week in the green. After finishing up by 0.18% to 4,946.95 points in its last session, the CAC 40 continues its momentum, adding another 1.49% to 5,020.60 points.
The British index FTSE 100 started the session with strong increase of 1.24% to 7,039.22 points. The market at least appears satisfied with the terms of the EU withdrawal agreement - unfortunately a large tranche of Theresa's May's own party will vote against the accord. Meanwhile, the oil field services specialist Wood Group rose by 3% and was among the earlier Footsie risers after the investment banking arm of HSBC raised its recommendation on the stock to "buy" from "hold".
Wall Street pre-session recap
The Wall Street stock futures pointed to gains at the start of the week, with that boost possibly driven by climbing oil prices. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose by 275 points, or 1.2%, to 24,542 points, while S&P 500 index futures gained 33 points, or 1.3%, to 2,662.75 points and Nasdaq futures jumped by 109.50 points, or 1.7%, to 6,640.75 points. The gains come on the heels of the worst Thanksgiving week since 2011 for US indexes, with all three logging losses of at least 3.5%.
However, since the beginning of the week, the crude oil prices are rising by 1% and fueled the growth of the markets.
Meanwhile, AstraZeneca has reported this morning that the US Food and Drug Administration has granted orphan drug designation for Fasenra (benralizumab) for the treatment of Eosinophilic Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis.
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://financeandmarkets.com/european-and-us-investors-started-the-week-with-optimism/