Markets will be watching the fallout from yesterday’s oil producers’ meeting in Doha for its impact on investors in trading in Asian markets today.
Early reaction is likely to be negative.
ASX futures market fell four points overnight Friday – that will not be a good guide to the way the market goes because of the confusion the collapse in the proposed Doha agreement will cause.
The Australian dollar edged higher to close at 77.25 US cents on Saturday morning – it will likely come under some pressure.
Markets pushed higher over the last week helped by better than expected US earnings results, good economic data and a continued unwinding of fears from early this year.
US shares rose 1.6%, eurozone shares gained 4%, Japanese shares rose 6.5%, Chinese shares rose 3.1% and Australian shares gained 4.5% in one of the strongest weeks for months.
On Friday, eurozone shares fell 0.3% and the US S&P 500 lost 0.1%. Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong all lost ground, but the ASX 200 jumped 0.8% on the back of the the first quarter Chinese GDP figure of 6.7% (annual).
But all markets were cautious yesterday’s meeting in Doha of oil producers.
The Dow finished 28.97 points, or 0.2%, lower at 17,897.46. The S&P 500 lost 2.05 points, or 0.1%, to close at 2,080.73. The Nasdaq Composite eased 7.67 points, or 0.2%, to end at 4,938.22.
The Dow was up 1.8% for its strongest weekly gain in a month. The S&P 500 rose 1.6% over the week, and Nasdaq was also up 1.8%.
European stocks joined Asia stocks in finishing mostly lower on Friday.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index was lower. The index fell 0.4% to 342.79 at the close of trading, trimming the weekly advance to 3.3%.
The MSCI Emerging Markets Index rose 0.2%, leaving it up 3.7% over the week, the biggest rise for six weeks.
The ASX 200 Index added 39 points, or 0.8%, on Friday to finish the week up 220 points, or 4.5% at 5,157.5 points. The All Ordinaries Index jumped 4.1% to 5224.1 points.
