Asia
Markets in the Asia-Pacific region picked up on the uncertain mood on Wall Street on Thursday, where shares slid in early trading but had recovered partially by the close. As trade talks continued between the US and China, China’s CSI 300 capped an uneventful week with a dip of less than 0.5% on the day. The index has been stuck in range between 3,750 and 3,850 points and has not managed a move above 4,000 points since late March.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was one of the worst performers in the region on Friday – the index has been volatile in recent weeks as the sentiment surrounding the technology sector have varied. Dubbed ‘China’s Apple’, Xiaomi is planning to float on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange to raise $10 billion.
Japan markets were closed again for Golden Week.
Europe
UK markets have had a better few weeks than those of the US and Asia-Pacific, helped by the fall in sterling against the dollar. After breaking through 1.43 dollars in April, the pound is now trading just above 1.35, a move that has supported the FTSE 100’s dollar earners even as the global backdrop has become more anxious. The blue-chip index has remained above 7,500 points this week, a level last seen at the end of January.
HSBC (HSBA) shares were one of the biggest fallers in the FTSE 100 after quarter one pretax profits dipped unexpectedly.
North America
Non-farm payrolls are the highlight of the week’s global economics calendar, now that Federal Reserve meeting is out of the way.
Last month’s jobs numbers were below expectations so investors are braced for a fall from the near-200,000 jobs that are predicted by analysts.
China’s NYSE-listed Alibaba (BABA) reports before the market opens on Friday.
The now notorious analyst call by Tesla (TSLA) founder Elon Musk has not endeared Wall Street to the electric car firm – not least because of Musk’s refusal to get bogged down discussing “boring” fundamentals like cash flow and competitive advantage. The company’s shares were sold off by more than 5% on Thursday. While Morningstar analysts raised their fair value estimate for the share to $235 a share – from $204 – the shares are still trading above this at around $285 dollars.