by Chris Becker
Asian share markets start the week in a very mixed fashio, with Chinese markets slumping, Japanese markets soaring and Australian traders wondering what the hell to do. The OPEC meeting over the weekend has seen oil futures rally strongly as the Saudi’s decide to cut more than expected. WTI has jumped to just under $54USD per barrel on the news, breaking out to a significant new high:
The Shanghai Composite is selling off strongly on the Monday morning gap, down more than 2% and below 3200 points. The Hang Seng is following the mainland bourses down too, off a little more than 1% and threatening to make a new daily low:
In Japan, the Nikkei is up nearly 1% as the Yen sold off immediately on the Tokyo open. The USDJPY pair is building above the 115 handle, looking to breakout even further going into this week’s Fed Meeting:
S&P Futures are bullish heading into the London open as the OPEC deal will support US energy stocks:
The ASX200 was listless and closed with a scratch session for the day, rises in oil and energy stocks dragged down by falls in gold producers and travel/transport stocks like Qantas on the oil rally.
The Aussie dollar started a small rally around lunch time, trying to get above the 74.50 level against USD but not following through before the London open where it should come under pressure as momentum remains negative:
The data calendar is very quiet tonight, getting ready for the Fed later this week…