Morning Briefing: Commodities strengthen, equities mixed

Commodities strengthen, equities mixed

Oil prices are higher Wednesday as expectation grows for an OPEC output cap extension. Meanwhile, gold prices continued rising overnight to hit a 5-month high as geopolitical tension increases.

Equity markets are mixed so far with most in Europe gaining despite apparent fresh terrorist activity in Germany; two prominent Asian markets are lower.
]
North Korea’s warning of a nuclear strike on the US aircraft carrier heading to the Korean Peninsula has raised tension in the region but Seoul’s KOPSI closed higher along with Sydney and Hong Kong.

There was a weaker session for mainland China with the Shanghai index reacting so softer producer price data and calls from President Trump for Beijing to sort out North Korea. Tokyo’s Nikkei also closed lower as the yen strengthened.

European markets are trending higher, shrugging off a suspected terrorist attack on a sports team’s bus in Germany as they travelled to a game. One person was injured.

Mixed regional data coupled with some strong corporate earnings have kept most major European bourses in positive territory. BoE governor Mark Carney speaks later.

Wall Street and Toronto are expected to open higher. The Canadian interest rate decision, monetary report and home price index are due. US oil inventory data is due.
 

	Latest	1 month ago	1 year ago
North America (previous session)
US Dow Jones	20,651.30 (-0.03 per cent)	-1.20 per cent	+16.53 per cent
TSX Composite	15,727.11 (-0.02 per cent)	+1.42 per cent	+15.80 per cent
Europe (at 5.00am ET)
UK FTSE	7,392.06 (+0.36 per cent)	+0.67 per cent	+18.42 per cent
German DAX	12,185.64 (+0.38 per cent)	+1.86 per cent	+24.83 per cent
Asia (at close)
China CSI 300	3,509.65 (-0.21 per cent)	+2.39 per cent	+9.05 per cent
Japan Nikkei	18,552.61 (-1.04 per cent)	-5.37 per cent	+16.47 per cent
Other Data (at 5.00am ET)
Oil (Brent)	Oil (WTI)	Gold	Can. Dollar
56.60 (+0.66 per cent)	53.71 (+0.58 per cent)	1276.30 (+0.16 per cent)	U$0.7509
			Aus. Dollar
			U$0.7497

Gains for bitcoin on Russia, Japan policies  

Japan and Russia are giving bitcoin a boost and values have increased 8 per cent in the past week.

The cryptocurrency has been made a legal currency in Japan and CNBC reports that Russia is now also considering how to regulate it. The moves to legitimize the digital currency could tempt more investors into the market and see values stabilize.

"The Japan virtual currency act has likely had a major impact, as there has been a lot of buzz in Japanese media over the ruling over the last few months," Aurélien Menant, founder and CEO of Gatecoin, told CNBC.