Overnight

Earlier we mentioned the OPEC energy cut deal, financialspuds.blogspot.com/2016/09/energy-cut.

Well, the news of a possible November limit on production though it's not known yet which countries will be cutting what spilled over into Asian markets overnight.

The Nikkei was up 1.4%, the Kospi gained  0.7%, with Hong Kong up 0.3% and the Shanghai Composite Index rallying 0.6%. According to the WSJ, Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said late Wednesday they had proposed cutting their collective output to between 32.5 million barrels a day and 33 million barrels a day, down from August levels of 33.2 million barrels a day. The group, however, deferred the task of finalizing a plan to make those cuts until November. Overnight, oil prices surged 5.3%, their biggest gain in more than five months. In early Asian trade, the Nymex crude price was up 31 cents at $47.35 a barrel, while Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, added 34 cents at $49.03 a barrel.
Reuters described the cut this way.

Asian crude oil buyers remained cautious, eyeing details of an OPEC deal after the oil-producers group agreed for the first time since 2008 to reduce output in an oversupplied market.

Global oil prices held onto gains on Thursday after soaring 6 percent in the previous session as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed on Wednesday to reduce output to a range of 32.5-33.0 million barrels per day.


However, how much each country will produce is to be decided at the next formal OPEC meeting in November, when an invitation to join cuts could also be extended to non-OPEC countries such as Russia.

In the currency markets a weaker yen punched investor sentiment higher and the dollar rose 0.6 percent against the Japanese currency to 101.34 yen, pulling away from Tuesday's one-month low of 100.085. The euro added 0.8 percent to 113.79 yen. Other currencies also traded higher as the Indonesian rupiah was up marginally, while the Malaysian ringgit gained 0.6% against the dollar. The New Taiwan Dollar was also higher against the dollar, ahead of a central bank rate decision later Thursday. Citi said it expects the currency to strengthen further following a likely rate cut—U.S. firm expects the central bank to cut policy rates by another 0.125 percentage point,the Journal reported.

In other news,thopugh muc of it seemed absorbed by the OPEC U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen told Congress on Wednesday the central bank did not have a "fixed timetable" for removing the current interest rate posture.. Her testimony followed the Fed's decision last week to hold steady on the federal funds rate at 0.25 percent to 0.5 percent. Gold edged higher to 1325.06.