FRANCE AUCTION PREVIEW: On offer next week

Recent weakness in WTI futures is considered corrective. The contract has traded through the 20-day EMA, at $97.36. Attention is on support at the 50-day EMA, at $86.97. It has been tested, a clear break of the average is required to highlight a stronger short-term reversal. On the upside key resistance and the bull trigger has been defined at $117.63, the Apr 7 high. Clearance of this hurdle would confirm a resumption of the uptrend. Recent gains in Gold appear to be corrective, however for now, a short-term bull cycle is intact. The metal has pierced the 50-day EMA, at $4782.1. This signals scope for an extension towards $4914.9, a Fibonacci retracement point. Clearance of this level would open the $5000.0 handle. Initial firm support to watch lies at $4554.2, the Apr 2 low. A break of this level would be bearish.

• WTI Crude up $0.08 or +0.09% at $91.45
• Natural Gas down $0 or -0.15% at $2.595
• Gold spot down $23.27 or -0.48% at $4817.21
• Copper up $0.85 or +0.14% at $615.2
• Silver down $0.27 or -0.34% at $79.2851
• Platinum up $19.48 or +0.92% at $2126.95

EuroStoxx 50 futures remain in a bull cycle for now. The contract has recently traded through both the 20- and 50-day EMAs, paving the way for a climb towards 5945.47, a Fibonacci retracement point. Note that a break of 5945.47 would expose the key resistance and bull trigger at 6143.00, the Feb 26 high. Key support to watch lies at 5525.00, the Apr 2 low. A breach of this support would highlight a reversal. First support is 5742.86, the 50-day EMA. A continuation of the strong rally in S&P E-Minis this week, reinforces the bull theme and confirms an extension of the reversal that started Mar 31. Note that medium-term trend signals remain bearish and for now, this suggests gains are potentially corrective. However, the break of the 7000.00 handle does expose the key medium-term resistance and bull trigger at 7096.50, the Jan 28 high. Initial key support to watch lies at 6567.00, the Apr 13 low.

• Japan's NIKKEI closed higher by 256.85 pts or +0.44% at 58134.24 and the TOPIX ended 15.06 pts higher or +0.4% at 3770.33.
• Elsewhere, in China the SHANGHAI closed higher by 0.584 pts or +0.01% at 4027.209 and the HANG SENG ended 75 pts higher or +0.29% at 25947.32.
• Across Europe, Germany's DAX trades higher by 47.62 pts or +0.2% at 24095.8, FTSE 100 higher by 3.16 pts or +0.03% at 10612.35, CAC 40 down 37.48 pts or -0.45% at 8290.81 and Euro Stoxx 50 down 5.91 pts or -0.1% at 5979.45.
• Dow Jones mini down 19 pts or -0.04% at 48736, S&P 500 mini up 3.5 pts or +0.05% at 7008, NASDAQ mini up 30.5 pts or +0.12% at 26027.25.

• MNI: EUROZONE FEB IND PROD 0.4% M/M (-0.8% JAN, REV FROM -1.5%)
• EUROZONE FEB IND PROD -0.6% Y/Y (-0.6% JAN, REV FROM -1.2%)