by Chris Becker
The RBA’s inability to jawbone markets was the only big news in the Asian Friday session to finish the week as the USD remained relatively steady after selling off overnight on the expanded investigation into Trump’s collusion with Russia. Meanwhile the Aussie dollar and yields on Aussie bonds fell on the back of Guy Debelle’s comments.
In mainland China the Shanghai Composite took back most of yesterdays gains, closing 0.4% lower at 3233 to remain above previous resistance, now support at 3200 points. The Hong Kong based Hang Seng Index is off only slightly, down 0.1% and till making good on its recent breakout above 26,000 points, but looking way overdone here and ripe for a small retracement:
Japanese stocks slipped back today to finish the week weakly as the Yen was stronger once more. The Nikkei finished down 0.2% to be just above its psychological important 20,000 point level. Yen firmed throughout most of the session in Asia today, with the USDJPY pair remaining below the 112 handle. While there maybe a bottom here, I’m sceptical of any upside breakout:
S&P futures are coming off slightly and do not look quite right to make another high tonight:
The ASX200 did not finish the week well, gapping down immediately on the weak US lead, recovering some but then slammed again in the afternoon to finish 0.7% down to 5722 points, just above the closely watched 200 day moving average. That level is proving a stubborn anchor to break free…
The Aussie dollar cracked on the weirdo RBA-o comments and briefly touched below the 79 handle before barely recovering here at the ATR support level. The key event will be how the City reacts to this “new” direction from the RBA, so we could get a violent retracement:
The data calendar finishes the week with a whimper, namely Canadian CPI.