by Chris Becker
Another day of unease across Asia with the Korean troubles still affecting risk markets, with the Yen bid higher, the Korean Won sold off and stocks retreating across the board.
In mainland China the Shanghai Composite is off nearly half a percent recovering a sharp selloff just before lunch to be at 3261 points as it continues to reject the next obvious resistance at the 3300 point level. The Hong Kong based Hang Seng Index is off even further, closing down 1% lower as its rally starts a minor retracement with ATR support not far away here:
Japanese stocks closed with scratch sessions, with the Nikkei off only a few points as the Yen maintained strength against USD, remaining below the 20,000 point level. The USDJPY pair is depressed below the 110 handle, still at a weekly low as caution abounds:
S&P futures are down with all eyes on the VIX tonight as volatility spikes again!
The ASX200 started the session strong but fell in the afternoon for a scratch result, down 0.1% to be at 5761 points. A mixed bag with quite a few industrials doing well, banks relatively stable while iron ore and other commodity stocks sold off.
The Aussie dollar remains at three week low breaking sitting on tentative support at 78.70 against USD. There’s been a small selloff in the last couple hours but price is holding tentatively here as we await the City to open:
The data calendar continues tonight with a slew of UK data, including trade balance and manufacturing production figures while in the US, its initial jobless claims.