Morning wrap (06.03.2023)

• Indices from Asia-Pacific are trading mostly higher today, likely responding to a Wall Street rally on Friday

• Nikkei, Kospi and Nifty 50 traded around 1.0-1.1% higher while S&P/ASX 200 added 0.6%. Indices from China pulled back and traded between -1.0% and +0.5%

• DAX futures point to a higher opening of the European cash session today

• Chinese authorities set official GDP growth goal for 2023 at "around 5%", which was at the low end of the expected range (5.0-5.5%). CPI inflation in 2023 is expected around 3%

• ECB President Lagarde said that further rate increases are very likely as core inflation is expected to remain high in the short-term

• Fed Daly warned that if inflation gets hot, rate path will be adjusted higher and rates will stay at higher levels for longer

• Saudi Aramco increased export prices for deliveries to Asia in April to $2.50 per barrel above benchmark, up from $2.00 per barrel above benchmark in March

• South Korean CPI inflation decelerated from 5.2 to 4.8% YoY in February (exp. 5.1% YoY). This was the lowest reading in 10 months. Core CPI slowed from 4.1 to 4.0% YoY

• Cryptocurrencies have been mostly stable throughout the weekend but some weakness can be spotted at the beginning of a new week. Bitcoin and Ethereum drop 0.2% while Dogecoin trades 1.2% lower

• Energy commodities pull back. Precious metals trade a touch lower

• EUR and JPY are the best performing major currencies while AUD and NZD lag the most

CHNComp launched a new week's trading lower following the setting of a rather disappointing 2023 GDP growth target in China. Index, however, managed to recover from early declines and is now trading more or less flat on the day. Source: xStation5