Morning Briefing: Asian markets rattled by N.Korea missile

Asian markets rattled by N.Korea missile

A new test of a ballistic missile by North Korea has rattled Asia’s equity markets with the launch towards Japan raising geopolitical risk in the region, and beyond.

There is little change in gold and oil prices although both are trending lower in early trade.

Major Asian markets closed lower except for Hong Kong. Mainland China’s stock market was closed for a public holiday.

European markets are mixed due to regional data and earnings. A speech by ECB president Mario Draghi is awaited. London’s stock market is closed for a public holiday.

Wall Street is closed for Memorial Day while Toronto is expected to open flat.
 

	Latest	1 month ago	1 year ago
North America (previous session)
US Dow Jones	21,080.28 (-0.01 per cent)	+0.67 per cent	+17.94 per cent
TSX Composite	15,416.93 (+0.04 per cent)	-1.09 per cent	+9.30 per cent
Europe (at 5.00am ET)
UK FTSE	7,547.63 (+0.40 per cent)	+4.77 per cent	+20.36 per cent
German DAX	12,600.64 (+0.04 per cent)	+1.36 per cent	+22.56 per cent
Asia (at close)
China CSI 300	3,480.43 (-0.15 per cent)	+1.18 per cent	+13.65 per cent
Japan Nikkei	19,682.57 (-0.02 per cent)	+2.53 per cent	+16.92 per cent
Other Data (at 5.00am ET)
Oil (Brent)	Oil (WTI)	Gold	Can. Dollar
52.07 (-0.15 per cent)	49.70 (-0.17 per cent)	1266.60 (-0.12 per cent)	U$0.7433
			Aus. Dollar
			U$0.7440

Interest rate rises will keep clam market in mind says Fed’s Williams

The president of the San Francisco Fed says that interest rate increases will be done slowly and with keeping the markets calm in focus.

John Williams said that the central bank wants to avoid volatility or disruption in the markets, either on Wall Street or globally.

He said that US economic conditions including the labour market and inflation are supporting interest rate rises but they will be done at the appropriate pace.

He also repeated the intention to reduce the Fed’s balance sheet from its current $4.5 trillion level.