Morning wrap (19.02.2024)

• Indices from Asia-Pacific were trading mostly higher during the first trading session of a new week. S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.1%, Kospi jumped 1.1%, Nifty 50 traded 0.4% higher and Nikkei dropped 0.1%
• Indices from China traded mixed during the first session following a week-long Lunar New Year holiday
• European index futures point to a lower opening of cash session on the Old Continent
• US index futures trade higher. However, US markets will be closed for President's Day holiday today and there will be no cash session on Wall Street
• Total spending during China's Lunar New Year holidays increased 47% YoY while number of trips made was 34.3% higher than a year ago. Spending was 7.7% above pre-pandemic 2019 holiday
• People's Bank of China left medium lending facility rate unchanged at 2.50%, in-line with market expectations.
• Japanese core machinery orders increased 2.7% MoM in December (exp. 2.5% MoM)
• Cryptocurrencies trade higher. Bitcoin gains 0.3% and trades slightly above $52,000 mark. Ethereum gains 1.5% while Dogecoin trades 0.9% higher
• Energy commodities pull back - oil trades 0.5% lower while US natural gas prices drop 3%
• Precious metals trade mostly higher - gold gains 0.5%, platinum trades 0.1% higher, palladium jumps 1.3% and silver drops 1.2% 
• NZD and AUD are the best performing G10 currencies, while CHF and USD lag the most

HSCEI (CHN.cash) makes another attempt at breaking above the 5,500 pts resistance zone. Source: xStation5