START THE WEEK

Asian equity markets had a mixed session today. The FTSE Hong Kong index rallied (+0.14%) helped by good corporate results in the region, but a little risk weighed on overall sentiment across Asia due to Korean/U.S. tensions. Joint-military exercises kick off today on the Korean Peninsula, with the U.S. and South Korea making a show of force to the Northern regime. Volatility is expected throughout this period. Markets headed south at the open in U.S. markets this morning, with Nike, Under Armour, Nvidia, Gap and Micron Technology Inc bearing the heaviest losses. The sportswear retailers are suffering after a spate of downgrades by analysts on their stock and cuts to their price targets. The 'Bannon Bump' (where indices made gains after Trump strategist Steve Bannon was ousted last Friday), has dissolved. Gold has rallied again, climbing higher towards $1300.

In India, the NIFTY50 index (-0.84%) lost over 100 points today, falling further and further away from the key 10,000 mark. Bearish investors on Dalal Street will be happy. Analysts expected that a correction in stock prices was long overdue, as the NIFTY has rallied rapidly over 2016/17, gaining well over 1500 points.

In Europe, the FTSE100 has been the days best performing index, helped particularly by mining stocks including Rio Tinto (+0.77%) and Anglo American (+1.02%), which were boosted by higher metals prices. Across the region though equity markets have had a less than stellar start to the week. Indices have struggled to make any major gains as of late, floundering amidst continued uncertainty in the U.S. especially. Many investors have seemingly lost some appetite for stocks and are moving into safe havens like gold and bonds. The German DAX30 (-0.93%) index currently sits at 12,052.58, having lost over 150 points since August 16th.

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