Daily market news

Bitcoin (BTC) price has slowed down its 2023 bull rally as it approaches the $37,000 level. After three weeks of consolidating around this level, BTC shows no directional bias whatsoever. Some investors speculate this could be an upward-sloping accumulation that leads to a $40,000 rally; others forecast a correction to $35,000 or lower.

Risk sentiment remains tepid on Friday, as Asian stocks traded mostly lower, despite the Wall Street rally overnight. China’s Caixin Manufacturing PMI unexpectedly expanded to 50.7 in November but failed to impress markets, as factory activity in other key regions of Asia remained sluggish on weak global demand.

Oil prices are back to levels over 1% in the green as markets were nervous during the OPEC+ meeting. The deal is constructed to erase 2.4 million barrels per day out of production. The biggest part, one-third, will come from Russia in order to circumvent the veto from African nations Angola and Nigeria, who refused to bear any production cuts.

Inflation in the US, as measured by the change in Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index, was 3% on a yearly basis in October, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis reported on Thursday. This reading came in line with the market expectation and was below 3.4% of the previous month.

Oil prices are jumping higher for a second day in a row ahead of the OPEC+ meeting and outcome. With the OPEC+ meeting taking place at the time of writing, no official report has been issued and no consensus seems to be on the table when it comes down to distributing production cuts amongst all OPEC+ members. The African producing nations appear to be very reluctant to take any cuts, despite the recent downturn in Crude prices in global markets.

Asian markets were a mixed bag on Wednesday, as they shrugged off a modest uptick on Wall Street overnight. Investors remained nervous ahead of China’s key inflation readings, which negated the growing optimism that a US Federal Reserve (Fed) policy pivot could be earlier than expected next year.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index reported a 3.9% annual change in September, up from a 2.5% change in the previous month, S&P reported. Market consensus was for a 4% increase. `According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) seasonally adjusted House Price Index, house prices rose in September 0.6% from August, surpassing market expectations of a 0.4% increase.

Another day of mixed trading was seen in Asia on Tuesday, as traders took the lead from the negative close on Wall Street and bore the brunt of renewed China concerns. Beijing's Stock Exchange suffered a 6% sell-off after major shareholders were advised to refrain from selling on Monday. China’s property market issues also continue to sap investor’s confidence.

GBP/USD climbed above the 1.2600 figure during the early morning in the North American session after bouncing from daily lows of 1.2590 due to data portraying the UK economy’s resilience despite the Bank of England’s (BoE) tightening. The pair is trading at 1.2607, clinging to 0.10% gains at the time of writing.

Major currency pairs extend their range play into Monday, as investors refrain from placing fresh directional bets amid souring risk sentiment and ahead of key inflation data from the United States (US) and the Eurozone later this week.