Equities subdued after Wall Street edged up - 20.11.2023

The Dollar weakening is intact currently. The live dollar index data show the ICE US Dollar index, a measure of the dollar’s strength against a basket of six rival currencies, ended 0.3 % lower on Friday.

GBP/USD joined EUR/USD’s accelerated advancing on Friday while the final reading of euro zone inflation showed a sharp slowdown - October’s year on year inflation reading came in at 2.9% after 4.3% in September. Both euro and Pound are higher against the Dollar currently. USD/JPY accelerated its sliding on Friday while AUD/USD reversed its retreating with both the yen and the Australian dollar higher still against the Greenback currently.

US stocks indexes futures are down currently after rebounding on Friday. The three main US stock benchmarks recorded daily gains in the narrow range from 0.01% to 0.1% on Friday while Census Bureau data showed the number of new residential building permits issued in November ticked up compared with that of October.

European stock indexes futures are mixed currently after closing higher on Friday led by financial services and mining shares. Asian stock indexes futures are mostly down today with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index defying the regional trend while the People's Bank of China opted to keep rates unchanged.

Brent is extending gains currently. Oil prices reversed their retreating on Friday and jumped more than 4%. The US oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) gained 4.1% and is higher currently. Brent jumped 4.1% to $80.61 a barrel on Friday. However Brent and WTI notched their fourth straight weekly losses.