Coronavirus Update: Shanghai lockdowns to be eased but Chinese port activity falls

Dhwani Mehta FXStreet

Officials in Shanghai city said Wednesday, lockdowns will be eased in districts with no coronavirus community spread.

The city will allow limited movements in restricted areas in these districts, the authorities added.

China reported 14,298 new covid cases on April 26 vs. 17,812 a day earlier.

This comes after the Chinese capital Beijing kicked off mass testing for millions of residents after a spike in covid cases.

The Chaoyang district reported 26 cases over the weekend - the highest number so far in Beijing's latest surge, per BBC News.

Amid covid lockdowns, Bloomberg reported, citing satellite data, Chinese port activity fell below levels seen during the first coronavirus outbreak in 2020 and construction has plummeted.

Meanwhile, China’s Industrial Profits grew by 5% during the January-February period, according to the National Statistics Bureau (NBS).

Also read: China’s President Xi pushing to beat US in GDP growth despite covid lockdowns – WSJ

Market reaction

USD/CNY keeps its corrective mode intact from two-year highs, currently trading at 6.5558, almost unchanged on the day.

Author

Dhwani Mehta

FXStreet

Residing in Mumbai (India), Dhwani is a Senior Analyst and Manager of the Asian session at FXStreet. She has over 10 years of experience in analyzing and covering the global financial markets, with specialization in Forex and commodities markets.

GBP/USD looks inconclusive around 1.3500

GBP/USD faces renewed selling pressure, eroding the earlier advance and confronting the key 1.3500 level on Wednesday. The lack of follow through in Cable’s initial move higher comes in response to the resurgence of the demand for the Greenback amid steady geopolitical tensions.

EUR/USD comes under pressure near 1.1530

EUR/USD now trades with marginal losses, receding toward the 1.1530 region on Wednesday. The pair’s slight pullback comes amid the now better tone in the US Dollar, as investors seem to have fully digested the latest US inflation data. The fragile landscape in the Middle East, in the meantime, is also expected to keep limiting the downside potential of the buck for now.

Gold trims gains; focus is back to $4,400

Gold now gives away part of its earlier advance to the vicinity of the $4,450 mark per troy ounce and approaches the $4,400 hurdle on Wednesday. The yellow metal’s partial loss of momentum follows the US Dollar’s recovery attempt after the CPI-led pullback.

Ripple lags recovery as exchange reserves expand

Ripple is trading within a broadly constrained technical structure, with support at $1.00 and key moving averages limiting its recovery potential. In August, the remittance token declined by approximately 6.5%, extending its total pullback to around 14% from July's $1.18 peak.

911 million shares freed: Why SpaceX rallied into its own supply

The most heavily trailed supply event of the year landed on August 6, and the SpaceX (SPCX) stock went up. Roughly 911.5 million shares held by insiders and early backers became eligible to trade, around 43% more than the entire float sold at the listing.

Why is Crude Oil priced for a reopening the ships haven't made?

Fourteen vessels crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday. Before the war, the count ran near 120 a day. In the sessions since the waterway was publicly declared open, Brent has drifted back to $87 and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) to $81, both a little lower again on Wednesday, with daily momentum on each unwound from the top of its range in late July to the low twenties now.