Reports of a tentative deal between the U.S. and Iran lifted global market sentiment on Friday. Cautious optimism prevails in markets as the deal is widely expected to allow the opening of the Strait of Hormuz and start nuclear talks. However, gains were limited as the deal is pending approvals by President Donald Trump.
Wall Street Futures are trading firmly above the flatline amidst relief at the prospects of a deal to extend the ceasefire by 60 days. Benchmarks in Europe are trading in the green. Earlier in the day, Asian markets had finished trading on a mostly positive note.
Amidst the uncertain geopolitical situation in the Middle East, the 6-currency Dollar Index which measures the U.S. Dollar's strength against a basket of 6 currencies has edged up. Bond yields have eased across regions.
Both the crude oil benchmarks have declined close to 2 percent as markets speculated on the prospects of unrestricted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Gold is trading with gains of more than half a percent. Cryptocurrencies have staged a modest recovery.
Here is a snapshot of the major world markets at this hour.
Stock Indexes:
DJIA (US30) at 50,790.70, up 0.24%
S&P 500 (US500) at 7,576.40, up 0.17%
Germany's DAX at 25,129.14, up 0.11%
U.K.'s FTSE 100 at 10,456.74, up 0.30%
France's CAC 40 at 8,253.45, up 0.79%
Euro Stoxx 50 at 6,089.56, up 0.57%
Japan's Nikkei 225 at 66,330.00, up 2.53%
Australia's S&P ASX 200 at 8,731.70, up 1.62%
China's Shanghai Composite at 4,068.57, down 0.73%
Hong Kong's Hang Seng at 25,182.39, up 0.70%
South Korea's KOSPI at 8,476.15, up 3.55%
Currencies:
Dollar Index at 99.08, up 0.06%
EUR/USD at 1.1644, down 0.05%
GBP/USD at 1.3419, down 0.20%
USD/JPY at 159.29, up 0.03%
AUD/USD at 0.7160, down 0.07%
USD/CAD at 1.3809, up 0.17%
Ten-Year Govt Bond Yields:
U.S. at 4.445%, down 0.16%
Germany at 2.9582%, down 0.06%
France at 3.564%, down 0.72%
U.K. at 4.8070%, down 0.15%
Japan at 2.652%, down 1.81%
Commodities:
Brent Oil Futures (Aug) at $90.99, down 1.84%.
Crude Oil WTI Futures (Jul) at $87.22, down 1.89%.
Gold Futures (Aug) at $4,562.95, up 0.67%.
Silver Futures (Jul) at $75.83, down 0.11%.
Cryptocurrencies:
Bitcoin at $73,546.97, up 0.41%
Ethereum at $2,009.67, up 1.22%
BNB at $638.07, up 0.92%
XRP at $1.31, up 2.26%
Solana at $81.98, up 1.61%
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