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Gold and silver have moved higher in the Asia Pac session with the yellow metal trading 0.40% in the black at $1743oz. Silver has pushed 0.77% and trades at $25.31oz breaking through the $25.20/oz resistance level on the daily chart.
The indices in the Asia Pac area have traded mixed the ASX (1.02%) and Shanghai Composite (0.14%) performed well while the Nikkei 225 traded just under flat.
In the FX space, the antipodeans traded well with both NZD/USD and AUD/USD moving 0.30% in the right direction and the dollar index (0.06%) is trading just slightly lower overnight. In the rest of the commodities complex, copper is 0.43% in the black and spot WTI dropped 0.64%.
Looking at the news, German factory orders for February pushed +1.2% month on month in line with the analyst consensus expectations. Sticking with data, New Zealand April (preliminary) business confidence fell to -8.4 vs the prior reading of -4.1 & the activity outlook hit 16.4 (prior 16.6).
In an interesting twist, Japanese funds sold the most Australian government bonds ever in February. This could be due to the new measure the RBA took at their last meeting.
Australian PM Morrison says has no advice to change to AstraZeneca vaccine rollout. This is after the EMA report suggested there could be a "possible link" to the blood clots and the vaccine.
People's Bank of China wary of rising household debt as they note that any excess could damage the economic recovery.
Over in the US, US President Biden is considering doubling Obama's climate promise. On many occasions, President Biden has said the environment is an important part of his agenda.
US Senator McConnell says there may be a way forward on infrastructure bill that does not change 2017 tax cuts. This comes as Biden says he is willing to hear proposals for a corporation tax rate below 28%.
Looking ahead to the rest of the session highlights include the ECB minutes, German & U.K. construction PMI, US initial jobless claims, and comments from Fed Chair Powell.
By Rajan Dhall
For Kitco News
