Our comments and expectations
External background. The S&P 500 failed to gain a foothold at new historical levels yesterday. The quotes were trading neutrally, however, towards the end of the session, an increase to 5,150 points was noticed, followed by a pullback. In general, the trading day passed without loud news and macro statistics. The market is waiting for the speech of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday-Thursday as part of the semi-annual report to Congress. It is expected that the head of the regulator will strengthen his statement that there is no need to rush to reduce rates. Tesla shares fell by more than 7%. Nvidia shares jumped 3.6%, overtaking Saudi Aramco and becoming the third most valuable public company in the world. Atlanta Fed President Rafael Bostic said he expects the Fed's first rate cut, which he has scheduled for the third quarter, to be followed by a pause at the next meeting to assess how the policy change will affect the economy. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 and DAX quotes closed neutrally, while the British FTSE 100 declined by 0.55%. In the morning, Hong Kong's Hang Seng has been falling by 2.5% in Asian markets due to its technology sector and news about the US ban on sales of AMD's AI process tailored to the Chinese market. At the same time, China's mainland CSI 300 index shows an increase of 0.5%. The National People's Congress issued a number of statements, including ambitious targets for urban unemployment at 5.5% and inflation at 3%, as well as measures to stimulate the economy
Bonds. The US 10-year yield yesterday recovered some of the losses it suffered on March 1. Corporate bonds were neutral.
The KASE index. The KASE index showed a minimal increase yesterday, which is quite interesting, since this time the market could not be helped by an increase in the prices of BCC shares and Kaspi.kz Nevertheless, the opening of trading is quite positive.
Index shares. BCC grew by 4.4% and continues to show growth with an opening of 5%. Judging by the Fibonacci levels, the stock has already overcome resistance, however, it seems that technical analysis is not entirely relevant in this case, when the stock shows an excessive bullish tone. Kaspi shares rose 2.8%. It is noteworthy that the securities on KASE are slightly cheaper than LSE according to the results of yesterday. On the LSE, the People's Bank showed an increase of 3.4% at once, but even such a rebound did not change the picture in the GDR, since quotes only played back the losses of recent sessions. Neither Kazatomprom, nor uranium ETFs, nor uranium itself showed a positive reaction yesterday to the news about the injection of funds into the US uranium industry.
Currency. At the end of yesterday's trading day, the dollar retreated and failed to gain a foothold at new heights. Despite the fact that the 50-day average was generally broken up, but we note that the formed triangle shape looks more significant in terms of technical analysis. We pay attention to the 454-455 level as the main level in the local picture.
Key market news
(=) HSBK: On March 18, the conference of Halyk Bank of Kazakhstan JSC on the announcement of financial results for 12 months and the fourth quarter of 2023 will be held