Asian And European Markets Rise As Investors Cheer Trade Talks

World markets rose today as investors cheered the ongoing progress on trade talks. Last week, US officials met with their Chinese counterparts in Beijing. This week, a number of senior Chinese officials will also visit Washington to continue with the talks. It was also reported that the talks had a long way to go, which prompted the US president to hint that he could add 60 more days. A report by Bloomberg said that Chinese officials are hesitant to give up on the issues that Washington is demanding. These issues include intellectual property theft and forced technology transfer. In China, the Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng rose by 2.7% and 1.60% respectively while in Japan, the Nikkei gained by almost 2%.

The Japanese Yen was little moved today after mixed economic numbers from Japan. The numbers showed that the core machine orders rose by an annualized rate of 0.9% in December. This was worse than the expected growth of 4.8%. On a MoM basis, the numbers contracted by 0.1%, which was better than the expected contraction of 1.1%.

In the United Kingdom, the game of chicken on Brexit continued. Notably, cracks in the Labour Party intensified as a group of seven MPs resigned from the party in protest to Jeremy Corbyn. The MPs come from a pro-European faction of the party. They had demanded the leader to back calls for another referendum. The cracks in the main opposition party is a boost to Theresa May, who is under intense pressure to deliver a Brexit deal that will be beneficial to the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, in the European Union, OECD warned that Portugal was back to the pre-crisis levels despite making significant improvements in the past few years.

EUR/USD

The EUR/USD pair moved slightly higher today. This happened in a low volume environment as US markets will be closed today. The pair is trading at 1.1322, which is higher than last week’s low of 1.1235. On the hourly chart below, the pair’s price is at a higher level than the 21-day and 14-day EMA. The pair’s RSI has also moved slightly lower from the previous high of 70. The Parabolic SAR show that the pair could continue moving higher. There is a possibility that the pair will move up to the next resistance level of 1.1400.

GBP/USD

The GBP/USD pair moved higher today as divisions rocked the opposition party. The pair reached a high of 1.2940, which is along the upper band of the Bollinger Bands. It is also along the 61.8% Fibonacci Retracement level. The RSI has moved from the previous low of 30 and has moved to the current high of 62 while the momentum indicator has moved past the 100 level. The pair could continue moving higher to the important resistance level of 1.3000.

USD/JPY

The USD/JPY pair was little moved today after the mixed machinery order data from Japan. The pair is now trading at 110.60. It has been along this level for the past two days, which is a sign of consolidation. On the hourly chart, this price is along the 42-day and 21-day EMAs. The RSI too has moved slightly upwards and is currently at 56. There is a possibility that the pair could make a major move in the coming days.