European Open: Index futures dragged lower on China’s COVID woes

Asian Indices:

• Australia's ASX 200 index fell by -7.6 points (-0.11%) and currently trades at 7,144.20
• Japan's Nikkei 225 index has risen by 14.72 points (0.05%) and currently trades at 27,914.49
• Hong Kong's Hang Seng index has fallen by -376.48 points (-2.09%) and currently trades at 17,616.06
• China's A50 Index has fallen by -197 points (-1.61%) and currently trades at 12,072.57

UK and Europe:

• UK's FTSE 100 futures are currently down -16 points (-0.22%), the cash market is currently estimated to open at 7,369.52
• Euro STOXX 50 futures are currently down -13 points (-0.33%), the cash market is currently estimated to open at 3,911.84
• Germany's DAX futures are currently down -55 points (-0.38%), the cash market is currently estimated to open at 14,376.86

US Futures:

• DJI futures are currently down -79 points (-0.23%)
• S&P 500 futures are currently down -28.5 points (-0.24%)
• Nasdaq 100 futures are currently down -11 points (-0.28%)

COVID cases in China have continued to rise, several schools across Beijing have been shut down and Shijiazhuang announced mass testing. The Hang Seng fell as much as -3.3% at the open and was the weakest performer overnight. Oil prices were also slightly lower overnight as traders price in slower demand from a locked-down China.

WTI 1-hour chart:

WTI formed a bearish outside week and suffered its worst week in 15 on Friday. It is trading below $80 ahead of the open but looks like it wants to pop higher on the 4-hour chart. The RSI (14) reached a very oversold level of 14 on Friday, but it has since tracked prices higher and broken its own trendline. If prices can remain above $79 then we see the potential for it to bounce a little higher towards $81 before returning to its bearish trend.

FTSE 350 – Market Internals:

FTSE 350: 4096.19 (0.66%) 18 November 2022

• 229 (65.43%) stocks advanced and 112 (32.00%) declined
• 3 stocks rose to a new 52-week high, 2 fell to new lows
• 12.57% of stocks closed above their 200-day average
• 50.57% of stocks closed above their 50-day average
• 5.43% of stocks closed above their 20-day average

Outperformers:

• + 15.33% - WAG Payment Solutions PLC (WPS.L)
• + 7.25% - Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC (AML.L)
• + 6.32% - International Distributions Services PLC (IDSI.L)

Underperformers:

• ·-4.90% - Mitie Group PLC (MTO.L)
• ·-2.58% - Morgan Advanced Materials PLC (MGAMM.L)
• ·-2.56% - ASOS PLC (ASOS.L)

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