Asia morning update: Energy stocks to lead gains

Oil leads

Synchronised gains for both US markets and the US dollar was seen overnight with optimism channelled to the markets at the start of the week. A near 3-year high seen for the US ISM manufacturing index had really been a continuation of the data outperformance seen from last Friday. The manufacturing activity data, coupled with the anticipation of Wednesday’s Fed minutes and Friday’s labour market update in the US, sets both the abovementioned markets on stronger footing at the start of the week.

Specifically, the USD index was seen trading above 96.00 Tuesday morning here in Asia and certainly seem to be relieved of the strong selling pressure from last week though the real tests comes later in the week.

Meanwhile, the shortened trading day within the US, ahead of Tuesday’s Independence Day, saw mostly mixed performance for markets. Key US indices had nevertheless managed to clock gains helped by strong performance within the energy and financial space. The S&P 500 index added a moderate 0.23% while the Dow Jones saw a strong 0.61% lift for prices. The NASDAQ had remained weighed by the IT glut.

It has been interesting to note that the S&P 500 index’s energy sector had clocked four consecutive sessions of gains as of Monday, the longest streak seen since February. This has been set against the backdrop of a seemingly strong recovery in crude oil prices with WTI futures crossing the $47.00 per barrel mark overnight. From a price perspective, the push for prices back to the consolidation range may mean more fluctuation to come as higher prices risk inviting more US rigs back online, especially after last week’s progress of seeing a slight decline.

US crude