by Chris Becker
The finishing line is just in sight and all of Asia is taking a cautious breath going into the US presidential election tonight with most stock markets up only a smidgen following yesterdays bullish bravado. Industrial metals and trade exposed currencies were bid the most throughout the session will safe havens like Aussie dollar and gold were sold off slightly. It’s all coming to a head tonight – a very long night that could presage a huuge jump in volatility. Or Canadian Visa applications…
The Shanghai Composite is building on its modest gains after the long lunch, up 0.4% to 3147 points as it continues to push and extend closely held overhead resistance for a proper breakout, even as today’s trade figures come in on the disappointing side. The Hang Seng is up only half that, around 0.25% as it claws back from previously dropping below key support at 23000, currently at 22883 points.
In Japan, a slight strengthen in Yen in the afternoon has sent the Nikkei back to a scratch finish after higher earlier in the day to 17169 points. The USDJPY pair is facing significant resistance at the 104.60 level since its big gap up on Monday, and is melting down going into the London session:
S&P Futures are higher again building on last nights rally, with Eurostoxx and FTSE futures also up. But this could all change in an instant when the various battleground state polls close – see the guide at the end of the post for when to watch:
Gold is just sitting still for now, possibly building for a breakout here at $1283USD per ounce, but its quite depressed – it would take a big shock to get the shiny metal moving. Trump winning the golden state of Florida?
For the ASX200, it was a staid day with a staid result from CBA, up only 0.13% to 5257 points. Not much to go on here as all the catalysts are external for now.
The Aussie dollar fell from the Sydney open, almost breaching ATR support at the 76.60 level before being bid to the 77 handle before the Frankfurt open. Pure price play here so I’m watching the high moving average a little above the current price for signs of a breakout:
The data calendar tonight will be overshadowed by the US presidential election – which should show some signs by about 7pm EST (around 10am AEDST tomorrow morning) of finally finishing…but before that we get a few important releases, namely German and British industrial production prints for October.
Here’s the 411 from the FT on when this Dog-damn nightmare will be all over:
