by Chris Becker
Another mixed session in Asia with stocks down in Japan and flat across China and locally with 4th quarter Japanese GDP undershooting although capital expenditure was the highest in three years, so maybe Abenomics is finally filtering through? Offsetting that were some unusual trade numbers from China while currency markets were relatively quiet in response.
The Shanghai Composite is slipping going into the close, down 0.3% to 3232 points, still above local support at 3200 but selling off quickly on the trade result. The Hang Seng Index is doing somewhat better, up 0.3% to 23759, still below the 24000 points resistance level but bouncing off the prior bottom at the daily ATR support level at 23500:
Japanese traders continue to remain cautious with the Nikkei closing down 0.5% to finish at 19,254 points as Yen strengthened throughout the trading session. The four hourly chart for USDJPY shows the heavy weight of domestic safe haven buyers on the Yen as the pair is pushed down to ATR support here at 113.70 with a possible breakdown likely:
S&P futures have slipping slightly, maintaining its downtrend and almost fully retracing to a more sustainable longer term trend:
The ASX200 had a scratch day, finishing unchanged even as it gapped down on the open following the poor overnight lead, finishing at 5759 points. The 5800 point resistance zone is the target to reach here but is thus so far elusive.
The Aussie dollar had a similar flat session, remaining bang on below the 76 handle against USD. This maintains its trend on the four hourly but as I mentioned earlier there’s too much resistance overhead here and momentum remains negative:
The data calendar is relatively quiet tonight with two releases to watch – German industrial production and US private employment figures for February.