by Chris Becker
This time only mainland Chinese stocks are enjoying the feel of green, led by rebalancing in the MSCI Index as a sea of red screens swamped the rest of Asia, led by a big selloff in Australian stocks. Yen is gaining as the safe haven once more alongside a small blip higher in gold as oil continues its selloff.
In mainland China the Shanghai Composite is gaining going into the close, up 0.4% to 3153 points, again trying to build above key support at the 3100 point level. The Hong Kong based Hang Seng Index however is following other Asian stocks, down 0.5% to 25720 points, still way above ATR support but rejecting the 26000 resistance level above as momentum wanes:
With the Yen lifting, Japanese stocks are retreating as well, with the Nikkei 225 down 0.5% to remain just above 20,000 points. The USDJPY pair is pushing down to the 111 handle on safe haven buying and remains just above its own low moving average on the four hourly chart. The reversal point here is still some way away at the ATR support line at 110.75:
S&P futures are mixed as we head into a cautious European session:
The ASX200 has been hit hard today falling nearly 2% to 5667 points taking it back almost to the February lows. This is a critical breakdown as both bank and commodity stocks took an equal drubbing (meanwhile Cochlear powers on….cough).
The drubbing continues and finally catches up to the Aussie dollar which has rejected overhead resistance and broken through key support at the 76 handle, ready to crack below as the mood against “The Lucky Country” continues to sour:
The data calendar continues with the DOE crude oil inventory report tonight which could put a lot of pressure on the WTI contract which is still struggling as the supply meme gushes over into sentiment.