08:55am   It’s a lovely sunny day outside so no chart watching indoors for me today – could be back trading tomorrow though…..

Market Update:

U.S equity markets closed on the last day of April on a negative note although overall they were up slightly on March’s close. The S&P-500 ended Monday’s session down by 16.81 points (-0.63%) at 2653.10 as it was dragged down by the telecoms sector after T-Mobile announced they were buying Sprint in a deal worth $26.5 billion.  The Dow Jones 30 index was also down but not by such a large amount, it finished at 24,223.23 (-0.36%) and the negative sentiment is continuing this morning in the futures markets.

The overnight Asian trading session suffered from low volumes as bank holidays were widespread but Japanese and Australian markets traded mostly higher despite the negative sentiment in the U.S. on Monday. The Australian Central Bank kept their monetary policy on hold with predictions of continued growth in the country’s economy after a period of stagnation in the last quarter of 2017.  Gold is on its way down to the minor support level at $1306 as equity markets start to resume their upward trend, it fell $8.43 to close at $1315.02 and is further down at $1309.78 as the U.S. Dollar strengthens.

Oil markets are looking optimistic as traders worry about upcoming Iranian sanctions which will affect supply in the region, Brent Crude ended Monday’s session at $74.65 (+$1.05) but does seem to have touched a high for the week so we could see some profit taking today – watch for trade opportunities as price could head for the 20-day moving average around $72.50.