Asian stock markets are pulling back again, particularly Chinese stocks as its becoming more apparent that Middle Kingdom stimulus will be weak sauce. Currency markets are seeing a reversal in strength in USD just before the London open across the board with the Australian dollar almost climbing above the 67 cent level while Euro is finding new life.
Oil prices are again inching higher on the OPEC/Ruzzia production cuts, with Brent crude hovering just below the $77USD per barrel level while gold is looking only slightly better after its overnight selloff, currently just above the $1920USD per ounce level:
Mainland Chinese share markets are falling again into the close with the Shanghai Composite off by more than 0.5% at 3202 points while the Hang Seng Index is down nearly 3% to 18569 points.
Japanese stock markets are joining in on the fun, with the Nikkei 225 closing more than 1.7% lower at 32773 points with the USDJPY pair also rolling over after being almost unchanged most of the week, cracking right through the 144 level:
Australian stocks couldn’t escape the selling either with the ASX200 closing more than 1.2% lower at 7163 points. The Australian dollar was looking to continue its overnight deflation but has surged in afternoon trade to almost get through the 67 handle on USD weakness:
Eurostoxx and S&P futures are down 0.4 to 0.5% so far as the London session gets underway with the S&P500 four hourly chart showing price action rolling over after hitting resistance at the 4500 point level:
The economic calendar ramps up with US balance of trade and the latest ISM services PMI print.