Chinese data boosts European trading

European gauges are being helped this morning by a surprise increase in Chinese manufacturing in March which returned to growth after four months of contraction. The speed of expansion is still fairly low – the PMI index for manufacturing stood at 50.8 and 50 is the cut off point for expansion – but with China being the key market for several European indices a stronger manufacturing number means a return to higher exports.

In London big miners and metal trading firm Glencore were the immediate beneficiaries and in Frankfurt the car-industry heavy DAX bounced 1.16% because of the extensive sales of German cars and industrial equipment to China. On the downside, Easyjet shares plunged over 8% after the company said it expects to book a substantial pretax loss as Brexit is continuing to hit ticket yields in the UK and Europe.

The pound is having a breather before another series of Brexit votes later this week and is trading up just over 0.3% against the greenback. An absence of Brexit related news over the weekend has granted the currency some respite but this will all change on Monday as MPs start debating the revoking of Article 50. 

Erdogan loss hits Turkish lira

After last week’s sharp decline the Turkish lira is sliding again as the party of the country’s controversial President Tayyip Erdogan lost a local election in the capital Ankara. The currency has slipped 0.3% although this is fairly meek compared to last year’s 30% decline during a currency crisis that was eventually stemmed by government and central bank intervention.

Expect more volatility in the lira while final results are being tallied, particularly because both Erdogan and his opponents claim a victory in Istanbul where the vote count is too tight to show a clear winner.