Investors played it safe overnight ahead of the meetings this week of the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan and the quarterly profit reports from tech giants, Apple, Facebook and Amazon over the next three days.
Oil prices eased a touch to $US42.99 in New York at 7.30 am, while gold rose by around $US9 to $US1,239 an ounce. European markets fell, after Asian bourses sold off.
The Aussie dollar bounced to around 77.15 US cents at 7.30 am, while a 25 point fall is in store for the local market after trading overnight in the SFE ASX 200 futures.
Iron ore prices fell for a second day – down 0.4% to $US60.07 a tonne. That was after a 5.9% to $US66.33 on Friday, more than halving Thursday’s 8.8% jump. Chinese futures markets tightened trading rules for iron ore, steel and several other commodities late last week (see separate story).
Those falls trimmed iron ore’s price rise this year since it hit a low $US38.30 in late December, to just under 73%.
The Dow fell 26.51 points, or 0.15%, to 17,977.24 this morning, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 3.79 points, or 0.18%, to 2,087.79 and the Nasdaq dropped 10.44 points, or 0.21%, to 4,895.79.
Traders say investors are watching the Fed and Bank of Japan for further signs on monetary policy (a rate rise for the Fed, and a further easing by the Bank of Japan).
Both Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index and Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.8%, while the Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.4%. South Korea’s Kospi was roughly flat, while the Australian and New Zealand markets were closed for Anzac Day.
Last week US shares rose 0.5%, European shares were up 2), Japanese shares up 4.3% as the yen fell on hopes the Bank of Japan will further ease monetary policy this week and Australian shares were up 1.5%.
The ASX is now almost back to where it ended 2015. Chinese shares fell 3.9% though on concerns that there won’t be more policy stimulus. Chinese shares again fell yesterday.
