Binary Options News : October 4, 2012

Stocks Gain on Solid US Data

Asian stocks made gains in overnight Asian trading as healthy jobs and service data coming from the US sparked a risk on trading session which saw the US Dollar cool and Stocks make gains.

Payroll processing firm ADP reported earlier that the U.S. private sector added a seasonally adjusted 162,000 jobs in September, beating the expected increase of 143,000. Augusts’ figure was revised down from a previously reported increase of 201,000 to a gain of 189,000.

Also keeping the focus in the U.S at a time when the two Presidential candidates go head to head in a televised debate, the Institute of Supply Management reported that its services purchasing managers’ index increased to 55.1 in September from 53.7 recorded in August. This surprised the markets with analysts expecting the index to fall to 53.2 for September.

Stocks

The solid data from the world’s largest economy combined with increased speculation that the Bank of Japan may bolster a monetary stimulus program later this week gave a boost to stock prices with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gaining 0.12%, Australia’s S&P/ASX200 rising 0.39% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index posting an increase of 1.18%.

Commodities

The profit taking and cooling towards the US Dollar helped push commodities higher in Asian trading. Crude Oil which initially fell sharply yesterday as data from China and Europe sparked worries about global demand. Brent crude for November delivery fell $3.40 to $108.17 a barrel, whilst US crude settled $3.75 lower at $88.14 a barrel. The price at time of writing was $88.27, up 0.14%. The weakened USD also helped Gold make gains – up 0.21% and Silver make gains – up 0.35%.

Currencies

The risk on session and heavy profit taking pegged the greenback back in Asian trading with the USD down against most major currencies. The EUR/USD was up 0.16%, the GBP/USD was up 0.13% whilst the AUD/USD was up 0.06% as the commodity linked Aussie benefited from the gains made in the commodity markets.

Today’s Outlook

European stocks and indices indicate a higher opening when markets open there. The U.S. sees the release of weekly government data on unemployment claims, as well as official data on factory orders whilst later on in the day, the Federal Reserve is to release the minutes of its September policy meeting. All in all, a busy day for the USD which will only be made busier as markets digest the results of the presidential debate too.

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