Macro Afternoon

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by Chris Becker

Another mixed day in Asia following the poor overnight lead with most bourses finishing in the red, save the local ASX200 on some short covering. The short term bounce in USD seems over already as Yen buyers stepped in, while the Aussie remains elevated.

In mainland China the Shanghai Composite took both half its previous gains, falling 0.3% to 3240, still above previous resistance, now support at 3200 points. The Hong Kong based Hang Seng Index is doing better, putting in a scratch session to remain just under 26827 points, pausing after its recent breakout above 26,000 points. There is room here for a retracement as daily momentum is indeed reverting to mean:

Japanese stocks continue to have a bad start to the week as Yen reasserts itself against the USD. The Nikkei finished down 0.1% to remain below its psychological important 20,000 point level. The USDJPY pair tried and failed to get back on track, slipping below the 111 handle today but is poised to go lower in the medium term leading into the Thursday FOMC meeting:

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S&P futures are flat as both earnings season and political duck hunting season continues tonight:

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The ASX200 is absolutely sticking above its very closely watched 200 day moving average, taking back Monday’s losses to finish up 0.7% to 5726 points. Again, banks to the rescue on what looks like epic short covering, but also iron ore issues are having a good day with Fortescue up nearly 2%

The Aussie dollar is holding at its Friday session highs around the 79.40 level against USD, starting to accelerate coming into the London open. The level to beat is the upper end of this rectangle pattern on the hourly chart at the 79.60 level:

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The data calendar continues with US earnings plus house prices and consumer confidence.