Share markets opened mostly higher on Wednesday in Europe, despite a mixed Asian trading session overnight. The fact that market sentiment remains positive, despite mixed corporate results so far, can be seen as a “good news” at a time where many were expecting a much darker global picture due to the impact of the deadly virus.
However, earnings are still very hard to predict with many investors playing it by ear. The tech sector, with companies like SAP, Nokia and ASML, are helping to drive the Stoxx-50 higher today while energy shares are also in green territory despite yesterday’s extended decline on oil markets and ahead of today’s much anticipated US crude oil inventories data. Investors’ risk appetite is also being sustained by recent data from Germany where daily new Covid-19 cases are near the lowest in the last three weeks even as the country progressively lifts lockdown measures, which is seen as a very good sign by market operators. The FTSE-MIB Index of Milan is one of the best performing markets today and is trading well above 16,500pts. However, the market remains capped by several resistance levels inside a consolidation phase with both moving averages trending lower. A return to the 16,000-16,280 points range, the lower band of the horizontal rectangle, remains the most likely technical scenario on a short-term basis.
