Market Overview Asian Market Update – Tuesday 3.10.2017: Cryptocurrencies consolidate as Asia takes holiday
The Big Question: How long will the low volatility last?
While stock markets surged up, major cryptocurrencies were slightly down during the Asian trading session on Tuesday, as both China and South Korea have entered into holiday mode.
Although volumes have been thin lately, bitcoin prices continue to rise steadily towards the $4,500 mark. In early Tuesday trading however, bitcoin was down slightly to $4,296.
Etherum followed suit, trading just below the $300 mark at $291, as the trading day in Asia was ending.
Litecoin was also nearly unchanged for the day, trading at $53.
Main Market Movers – Mid-day Asian Trading Session
| Indexes | Value at Midday | Daily Change |
| Japan-Nikkei 225 | 20,614 | 1.05% |
| China-Shanghai Composite Index | CLOSED | CLOSED |
| Hong Kong –Hang Seng | 28,141 | 2.13% |
| South Korea-KOSPI | CLOSED | CLOSED |
| Australia-ASX 200 | 5,701 | -0.49% |
Most major Asian stock indexes performed strongly on Tuesday, helped by good economic data out of the US and a strong close in the US markets yesterday.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 1.05 percent, trading at 20,614 just before the end of the trading day in Japan. The Japanese index was helped by a stronger dollar and weaker yen, giving a boost to the country’s exporters.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index trended up nicely throughout the trading day, having gained 2.13 percent towards the end of the day. The strong performance was led by both eased bank reserve ratios and improved manufacturing data out of Beijing.
Down in Australia, the ASX 200 was the only loser among the major stock markets in Asia Pacific, trading down by 0.49 percent to 5,701 at the end of the trading day.
Currencies
On the forex front, the dollar gained 0.35 percent on the Japanese yen, trading at 113.13 yen per dollar.
The Chinese yuan was unchanged for the day on the dollar, trading at 6.6532 per dollar.
The US dollar gained on the Aussie dollar, trading up 0.31 percent to change hands at 1.2805 per US dollar.
Commodities
WTI Oil remained mostly flat Tuesday, trading up by 0.04 percent to at $50.55 per barrel.
Brent Crude was up 0.16 percent to $56.11 per barrel.
Gold was nearly flat Tuesday, trading at $1,270 per ounce
Business News across Asia
In South Korea, October 10 is being mentioned as a likely date for another North Korean missile launch or nuclear test. The date marks the founding of the rogue state by the grandfather of the current “Rocket Man” president. North Korea is known to use big occasions to fire off new weapons.
Take away: Be prepared for another market correction on this date. Alternatively, opportunistic traders could buy dips in the market following the event. Weapons tests from North Korea have not created any big run to safety previously, but the more serious the threat is, the more likely it is that cryptocurrencies and gold could benefit as a result.
In Singapore, house prices appear to have turned up for the first time in 4 years. The Singapore housing market has been in decline for 15 consecutive quarters, but ended this with a 0.5 percent gain in the third quarter this year. Since the peak back in 2013, house prices in Singapore have declined by 11.6 percent. It is widely believed that the downward motion over these years were initiated by government measures to cool down the housing market.
Take Away: We will leave it for the experts to decide whether the government cooling measures were too powerful. However, buying your first home in Singapore in 2013 has surely been a miserable experience. However, as prices stabilize, investors might want to put some money back into this traditionally very safe and stable market.
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