The European market dropped on Tuesday dragged down by the slump of BASF and Novartis stocks. The EUR/USD pair was flat on Tuesday showing insignificant fluctuations around 1.1050. The FTSEurofirst 300 index declined 0.7% yesterday having reached the 9 week high last Friday. The STOXX 50 index lost 0.6%. The German DAX 30 and French CAC 40 indices fell 1% each. The multi-national chemical manufacturing corporation BASF stocks fell by 5% after the company reduced down its full-year earnings due to the weaker-than-expected sales in emerging countries. The pharmaceutical group Novartis stocks lost 1.4% on the news its Q3 core net income less than expected. Another pharmaceutical company Shire (UK) rallied 5.7% on Tuesday amid the positive results of its new medicine trials. Today in the Eurozone the October German Consumer confidence survey was published, the reading was in line with consensus-forecast at 9.4. No more significant economic news are expected today from Europe.
Asian markets were declining too after the whole month of growth as investors were closing positions and staying out of the market awaiting the US Fed and the Bank of Japan meetings due on this week. The Japan’s Nikkei index lost 0.8% still staying close to its 8-week high. Meanwhile, Hang Seng and Shanghai composite index edged up 0.1% each.
Crude oil prices continued extending losses for the third day yesterday with Brent losing 1.5% and hitting a six-week low at $46.81 a barrel. WTI fell 2.8% to $43.20 a barrel. The unseasonably warm weather made markets cautious about the possible decrease in oil products consumption and pushed oil prices lower. In general commodities markets remain under pressure because of the descending demand from their major consumer China and the global supply glut.
Copper prices were steady at $5206 a tonne.
This overview has an informative character and is not financial advice or a recommendation. IFCMarkets. Corp. under any circumstances is not liable for any action taken by someone else after reading this article.
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