by Chris Becker
Another bullish day in Asia with stocks up across the board, even in “slow as she goes mate” Australia where the GDP print came in below expectations – well for the crowd at least. Whocoodanode? Currencies are feeling the embiggened strength of the USD, with the Aussie falling alongside Pound Sterling and Yen.
The Shanghai Composite finally put in a bullish session, rising 0.6% to be above 3200 points once more, in what looks like a hopeful recovery. The Hang Seng is up 0.4%% as it tries to build on its previous bounce.. The daily chart is still showing a serious level of resistance around the 23000 point level, yet momentum remains negative:
In Japan, both the Nikkei and Topix share markets are up nearly one percent as the Yen quickens in its weakening against USD. The USDJPY pair has pipped above the 114 handle in Asian trade and is making its way to resistance overhead at 114.50:
S&P Futures are also building higher where we should see a very positive session on Wall Street and in London later tonight – except Boeing stocks that is!
The ASX200 closed up nearly 1% to almost 5500 points again, despite the disappointing GDP print. Banks were the major driver, with all divisions of Megabank doing well, but iron ore miners like Fortescue (up 4%) and Rio Tinto (over 2%) also did some lifting.
The drop was in Aussie dollar which fell around 40 pips on the release, currently at 74.30 against USD and still trying to find a base here at the 74 handle going into The City reaction shortly:
The data calendar tonight includes some German and UK manufacturing/production prints with the Canadian central bank meeting followed by DOE oil inventories.