Market focus on COVID-19 In China

Morning Update

Despite a market holiday in China at the start of the week, markets focused on the Chinese COVID-19 situation, as the coronavirus outbreaks worsened and the lockdown in Shanghai intensified.

Chinese officials once again reiterated that the ‘zero’ policy remains in place with no plans for an exit. Medical personnel are flooding into Shanghai to assist in efforts to combat the spread, including 2000+ from the People’s Liberation Army.

Also from China, over the weekend we had an announcement from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) removing a legal hurdle to greater cooperation with US authorities on auditing Chinese listed firms in the US.

This should be a positive input for Chinese equities when they reopen for trade on Wednesday after the mentioned holidays. It should be noted that Hong Kong gained on the session today possibly foreshadowing better things to come for Chinese equities.

Speaking of China, the government has announced that will not demolish 39 buildings belongs to Evergrande, the embattled property developer. Instead they will be confiscated.

FX markets are very quiet today, alongside futures. The barrage of news from Ukraine continues, and its largely down bear, although the market may be pricing in the worst.

News reports are showing that accusations of Russian war crimes in Ukraine mounted due to a discovery of mass graves and corpses in streets near Kyiv. President Volodymyr Zelensky directly blamed leaders in Moscow for the “torture” and “killings” of civilians.

As you may expect, Britain, France, Germany, the United States, NATO and the United Nations all voiced horror and revulsion at the reports of civilians being murdered in Bucha, northwest of the capital, with the atrocities prompting vows of action at the International Criminal Court.

Gold is slightly down on the day, which is not unusual considering that the market is digest Fed speak from the weekend, and the solid jobs report from last Friday. Another potential reason why gold is down again, is Bitcoin.

Bitcoin is rallying back above the $46,0000, as the top coin makes its way back towards key resistance after finding support around $44,000. Rumours around a major announcement with Apple Pay are doing the rounds on Twitter crypto channels right now.