Asia mid-session: Equities rally despite stagflation fears as Canada reopens trade talks; US dollar weakness further

[Redator]

US equity markets continued their bullish climb on Friday, 27 June, defying renewed stagflation risks. Core PCE inflation for May rose to 2.7% y/y (above April’s 2.6% and consensus), while personal spending contracted -0.1% m/m—the first decline since January, highlighting the impact of tariffs and economic uncertainty on consumer demand.

The S&P 500 (+0.5%) and Nasdaq 100 (+0.4%) both closed at fresh all-time highs, brushing off hawkish trade rhetoric from President Trump. He signalled plans to suspend negotiations with Canada ahead of the 9 July expiry of the 90-day tariff pause, citing retaliation for Canada’s digital services tax and threatening new levies this week.

Canada U-turn boosts risk appetite in Asia

In today’s Asian session, market sentiment was lifted after Canada scrapped the digital tax on US firms and signalled readiness to resume trade talks. This spurred further risk-on momentum, with S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 E-mini futures up 0.4% and 0.5%, respectively, at the time of writing.

Asian equities joined the rally. Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.9%, heading for its fifth consecutive advance following last week’s breakout.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index pared early losses (-0.8%) to -0.25%, helped by a milder contraction in China’s NBS Manufacturing PMI for June (49.7 vs. 49.5 in May) and a slight uptick in Services PMI (50.5 vs. 50.3 prior). The Hang Seng TECH Index rose 0.1%.

US dollar weakens further; Yen outperforms

The US dollar extended its decline in the Asia session after the US Dollar Index closed the week below critical long-term support at 97.40. It is now down another -0.2% to 97.04, reinforcing the prospect of a sustained bearish trend over the coming weeks and months.

The Japanese yen, previously a laggard, emerged as the top-performing major currency, gaining 0.6% against the dollar. USD/JPY is now trading at 143.90, testing the medium-term ascending trendline support from the 22 April swing low.

Gold eyes rebound after 6% corrective pullback

Gold (XAU/USD), down -6% over the past two weeks, is showing signs of short-term recovery. With prices testing key intermediate support at US$3,250 and deeply oversold technicals, the yellow metal has rebounded 0.4% intraday to US$3,287.

Economic data releases

Fig 1: Key data for today’s Asia mid-session (Source: MarketPulse)

Chart of the day – Bullish momentum intact, Germany 30 is eying a fresh all-time high

Fig 2: Germany 30 CFD Index minor trend as of 30 June 2025 (Source: TradingView)

Since its retest and bullish reversal on the 50-day moving average seen last Monday, 23 June 2025, the price actions of the Germany 30 CFD Index (a proxy of the German DAX futures) have transformed into a bullish impulsive up move sequence (see Fig 2).

Watch the 23,770 short-term pivotal support (also the 20-day moving average) for the next intermediate resistances to come in at 24,260, and 24,560/24,600 (Fibonacci extension cluster)

However, failure to hold above 23,770 invalidates the bullish tone to kick-start another minor corrective decline sequence to expose the next intermediate support at 23,510/23,440 (also the rising 50-day moving average) before another potential bullish reversal materializes.

Opinions are the authors'; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. The provided publication is for informational and educational purposes only.
If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please refer to the MarketPulse Terms of Use.
Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets.
© {CURRENT_YEAR} OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.