by Chris Becker
The poor lead from overnight has led to broad selloffs in Asia, with Japanese stocks the worst afflicted, down 2% as the Yen strengthens amid continued disappointment that the BOJ did not fire up the helicopters for more stimulus. Conversely, the Australian dollar remains strong after a huge rally overnight post the rate cut from the RBA, while the Kiwi and other peripheral currencies are down versus the USD.
The Shanghai Composite is currently treading water just before the close while the ASX200 finished down 1.4% to 5465, led by bank stocks as they were crushed from similar losses in the German DAX and European stocks overnight. The funding crunch is having an impact here on potential profit growth for Megabank, with the NAB sub-division the worst performer, down nearly 3% today and still down nearly 30% from its top. That weekly trendline is hard to beat and the steepest angle of the four, where we could see a rollover back down to $24 again for NAB:
