Morning Briefing: Asian markets down, Pound slips on Scotland vote fears

Asian markets down, Pound slips on Scotland vote fears
World markets have started the week with some volatility as economic and political concerns dominate.

Asian indexes closed broadly lower Monday with Shanghai and Tokyo both of by almost 1 per cent and the other major markets also losing ground.

Among the concerns are Donald Trump’s speech to Congress Tuesday and the ongoing fallout from Britain’s decision to leave the EU.

The British pound fell in early trading as fears grew regarding the possibility of a break-up of the United Kingdom with increased calls for a second independence referendum in Scotland, which could be called by the Scottish parliament next month when the UK is expected to formally begin the Brexit process.

European equities are trending higher on positive data but the merger between stock market operators in London and Frankfurt is looking shaky as the London exchange said it could not meet the antitrust requirements of the EU.

Wall Street and Toronto are expected to open slightly lower. Data on US durable goods orders, and US home sales is due.
 

	Latest	1 month ago	1 year ago
North America (previous session)
US Dow Jones	20,821.76 (+0.05 per cent)	+3.62 per cent	+25.13 per cent
TSX Composite	15,533.46 (-1.57 per cent)	-0.27 per cent	+21.38 per cent
Europe (at 5.00am ET)
UK FTSE	7,258.07 (+0.20 per cent)	+1.05 per cent	+19.29 per cent
German DAX	11,815.63 (+0.10 per cent)	+0.00 per cent	+24.60 per cent
Asia (at close)
China CSI 300	3,446.22 (-0.80 per cent)	+1.72 per cent	+17.03 per cent
Japan Nikkei	19,107.47 (-0.91 per cent)	-1.85 per cent	+18.03 per cent
Other Data (at 5.00am ET)
Oil (Brent)	Oil (WTI)	Gold	Can. Dollar
56.72 (+1.30 per cent)	54.50 (+0.94 per cent)	1256.50 (-0.14 per cent)	U$0.7626
			Aus. Dollar
			U$0.7680

Trump accusations over China’s currency won’t be official say experts
The US Treasury will publish its monitoring list in April but experts don’t believe it will say that China is deliberately devaluing the yuan.

CNBC’s survey of economists and strategists reveals that most believe the Trump administration will not make an official accusation despite previous comments made by the president.

Experts say that giving China an official tag as a currency manipulator would be inflammatory and lead to increased protectionism on both sides.