Morning wrap (26.07.2021)

• Stocks in Asia are trading mixed on Monday. Japanese Nikkei gains, Australian S&P/ASX 200 trades flat, while South Korean Kospi drops

• Chinese indices continued to underperform, being dragged down by the educational sector. Concerns are mounting that Chinese authorities will force tutoring companies to go non-profit

• DAX futures point to a slightly lower opening of today's European session

• Bitcoin surged this morning and almost reached the $40,000 area. Part of the gains has been erased since but the coin continues to trade above the $38,000 mark

• Rumours began to circulate that Amazon may start accepting cryptocurrency payments after tt was reported that the company is looking for digital currencies experts

• Australian authorities are expected to extend Sydney lockdown until mid-September from current deadline of July 30

• According to Reuters, United Kingdom is looking to ban Chinese state-owned companies from nuclear projects

• Japanese manufacturing PMI index for July dropped from 52.4 to 52.2 (exp. 53.1)

• Precious metals trade higher. Oil, industrial metals and agricultural commodities drop

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

Chinese CHNComp deepened decline today, being dragged down by an underperforming educational sector. Index plunged below the lower limit of the downward channel and is looking towards the support zone at 9,250 pts. CHNComp trades at the lowest level since early-October 2020. Source: xStation5