by Chris Becker
Stocks continue to selloff in Asia in response to last night’s big move on Wall Street. While the direction is the same, the magnitude has been muted relatively speaking. Volatility is only just beginning to build however, so stay tuned for more!
In China the Shanghai Composite is selling off going into the close, finishing down 0.5% to 3088 points, unable to climb back above its once critical support level at 3100. In Hong Kong the Hang Seng Index has fallen a similar amount, down 0.4% to just above 25000 points, as the expected retracement continues to unwind, albeit at a slower pace:
Japanese stocks were the biggest losers as Yen strengthened against the USD considerably. The Nikkei closed down 1.3% lower, heading below its pre-breakout level at 19500 points. The USDJPY pair at first wobbled but then came back on short covering but is looking weak going into the London session here:
S&P futures are up ever so slightly on light volume in anticipation of bigger moves tonight (or perhaps that particular orange brand of Teflon will just roll off the drama?)
The ASX200 fell nearly 1% to close at 5738 points lead mainly by financials but also industrials with US exposure with commodity stocks also mixed. The reaction to todays labor force figures was only a slight uptick as the bourse remains in its corrective phase for now.
The Aussie dollar is finally finding its straps, lifting about 30 pips higher on the strong unemployment data in expectation the chance of the RBA cutting anytime soon is closing. Its now pipped above the 74.50 resistance zone. but we’ll see if The City believes the ABS figures:
The data calendar tonight includes US initial jobless claims and the Philly Fed data with a late night speech by Super Mario at the ECB to round it out.