by Chris Becker
Asian markets remain very cautious, unable to translate new record highs on US stock markets to further advances domestically. Currencies are little changed with the USD remaining steady against most majors after last nights falls while commodities are mixed as iron ore falls and oil wants to lift higher after being steady for so long.
The Shanghai Composite was falling after returning from its long lunch break but has recovered the losses to be dead flat going into the close, currently at 3251 points. The Hang Seng Index however is down 0.4% to be just above 24000 points in what looks like a congested top here on the daily chart:
Japanese stocks are falling as Yen remained strong against USD. The Nikkei closed down 0.4% to finish at 19283 points but still holding steady on the daily chart. The hourly chart for USDJPY shows a small uplift on the Tokyo open, but that is being squeezed as we speak heading below the 113 handle as Yen remains the de jure safe haven currency:
S&P futures are flat with not much action in Asia to provide a catalyst to move higher:
The ASX200 lost nearly 1% today as commodity and energy players were dragged down as iron ore slumped although oil prices remained high. The market lost 45 points or 0.8% to be at 5739 points, well below the 5800 point resistance zone. BHP fell again, off nearly 4% while RIO lost the same.
The Aussie dollar however held onto its previous gains, remaining above the 77 handle against USD. This is not far off the 2016 high, so we could be in for a big meltup here:
The data calendar finishes the week with a whimper with Canadian CPI and January new home sales for the US.