Morning Note: Markets Optimistic, Small Caps top NSE Gainers.

A report by  Standard Investment Bank (SIB) has revealed that the small cap stocks have been performing well on the exchange, despite the gains being made on the back of very thin traded volumes of less than Sh300,000 on each counter, small cap counters trampled the know blue-chip companies. Express Kenya, Olympia Capital & Portland Cement were seen as the top counters in terms of capital gains on the NSE.

The G7 central banks may seem to all follow the Federal Reserve in lowering the rates. Bank of Canada yesterday lowered their overnight rates by 0.25 basis points. All eyes remain on Christine Legarde who has been hard on changing rates on the ECB.

Here’s a brief of how markets performed as you start your day.

Global Markets.

• Japan’s Topix index rose 0.7% as of 12:50 p.m. in Tokyo.
• South Korea’s Kospi climbed 0.5%.
• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.2%.
• The Shanghai Composite added 1.4%.
• Futures on the S&P 500 Index dipped 0.9%. The underlying gauge advanced 4.2% on Wednesday.
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures added 0.5%.
• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 0.9%.

Currencies

• The euro bought $1.1138, little changed.
• The yen rose 0.2% to 107.32 per dollar.
• The offshore yuan slid 0.2% to 6.9389 per dollar.

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries dropped four basis points 1.01%.
• Australia’s 10-year yield rose six basis points to 0.78%.

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.3% to $47.40 a barrel.
• Gold added 0.1% to $1,639 an ounce.