Afternoon Market Update – 10/01/2017 – by Jaz Singh

Since touching a 14 year high last week, the dollar index has declined over 1 percent as we await further guidance from the Trump camp. More recent trade has given relief to the dollar sell off as the greenback remains flat for the day against its major counterparts. The pound has extended its declines from yesterday’s session after PM May’s Brexit comments. Cable has touched the 1.210 region to the downside this morning as sentiment remains bearish for the currency. Elsewhere we see the Euro rising some 0.1 percent. In the equity space, European bourses are flat for the session with a similar theme developing in US equity futures. Mining stocks lead the gains in Europe following positive PPI data from China; the figure rose at its fastest pace in over 5 years. Crude oil has bounced back slightly from its declines yesterday, which came after a rise in US drilling overshadowed OPEC cuts. Iron ore is the big riser in the commodity complex adding 5.5 percent during the session while zinc has gained over 2 percent. The data slate is light this afternoon with no real announcements of note.