Morning wrap (28.03.2022)

• Stocks in Asia traded mixed at the beginning of a new week. Nikkei dropped 0.6%, S&P/ASX 200 moved 0.1% higher, Kospi traded flat and indices from China traded lower

• European index futures trade above Friday's cash close while US futures pull back slightly

• US President Biden said during his visit to Poland that Putin cannot remain in power. However, White House explained later that Biden was not calling for regime change in Moscow. Biden also called Putin a butcher

• Next round of face-to-face talks between Ukraine and Russia will be held this week in Turkey

• Sinopec, China's state-owned oil company, withdrew from a $500 million natural gas investment in Russia

• USDJPY spiked above 123.00 after Bank of Japan offered to buy unlimited amount of 10-year government bonds today as an effort to control yield curve

• Shanghai, China's major financial and industrial hub was put into lockdown today. However, ports will remain open

• Iranian officials said that a nuclear deal with the West is imminent. However, US officials said that it is not and that issues remain

• Cryptocurrencies are trading higher at the beginning of a new week. Bitcoin and Ethereum trade 6% higher while Dogecoin rallied 11%

• Oil is trading lower with both Brent and WTI dropping more than 2% today

• Precious metals trade mostly lower with gold dropping 1% and silver trading almost 2% lower

• AUD and USD are the best performing major currencies while CHF and JPY lag the most

Cryptocurrencies rallied during the weekend and the upward move continues today. BITCOIN broke above the resistance zone marked with 61.8% retracement of the upward move from the second half of 2021. This zone also marked the upper limit of a recent trading range. The next resistance to watch can be found at 200-session moving average in the $48,250 area. Source: xStation5