5th October 2021 Morning Report

Tuesday 5th October 2021

U.S. stock markets were under pressure on Monday, with the three main indices declining. The Nasdaq Composite closed 2.15% lower, while the Dow Industrial Average and the S&P 500 fell 0.91% and 1.23%, respectively. These were driven by the stalling of President’s Biden’s economic agenda and rising inflation concerns. The Democrats in Congress are struggling to achieve consensus on both the bipartisan infrastructure bill and a $3.5 trillion spending plan. Moderate Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona came out against the size of the spending package. The 10 - year bond yield was at 1.49%.

Other key overseas markets were choppy with European exchanges closing mixed with Britain’s FTSE 100 rising 0.16% while France’s CAC 40 and Germany’s DAX 30 fell 0.28% and 0.61%, respectively. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 1.13% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index declined 2.19%. China’s Shanghai Composite was closed for holiday and won’t reopen until Friday. The shares of Evergrande Group were suspended in Hong Kong, ahead of a major announcement. Chinese state media Global Times reported Evergrande will sell about 51% of its property services business to the developer Hopson.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose $1.90 to $77.78 a barrel, while gold increased marginally by $3 to $1,761.40 an ounce.

The Australian market closed more than 1% higher on Monday, driven by financials, energy, and gold stocks. The S&P/ASX 200 ended 1.3% up at 7,287.5. Commonwealth Bank of Australia notched its best session in a year and a half and was the top performer yesterday rising 5.1%. National Australia Bank Ltd, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group and Westpac Banking Corp were also up between 1.9% and 2.2%. Consequently, the financials sub- index jumped 2.6%. Energy stocks closed 1.4% higher, with major oil and gas explorers Santos Ltd and Woodside Petroleum ending 1.7% and 1.6% up, respectively.

Morning Report 5 October 2021

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