Macro Afternoon

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by Chris Becker

Outside the ASX200, most stock markets gained across Asia, following the good mood on Wall Street overnight. It was a day of reserve banks moving and standing still with the Chinese authorities cutting reserve requirement ratios for some loans while the RBA sat on its hands, sending the Aussie dollar lower.

In mainland China the Shanghai Composite is closed while the Hong Kong based Hang Seng Index zoomed nearly 2% higher, getting back above the local resistance level at 28000 points:

S&P futures are climbing already, suggesting some gains ahead tonight:

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Japanese stocks are up as the Yen weakened with the Nikkei reaching nearly 1% to finish at 20622 points, making good on its recent breakout above resistance at the 20,000 mark. The USDJPY pair has lifted to be just above the 113 handle but its meeting some key resistance here as it equates to last week’s intrasession high. Without a new daily high here is there is a possible retracement back to the moving average band at the 112.50 level:

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The ASX200 is the odd man out in Asia, falling over 0.5% to finish at 5701 points and remaining below the 200 day moving average. Banks were to blame – or the RBA, pick your poison – with CBA dropping 1.5% as miners were relatively stable.

The Aussie dollar fell following the RBA holding its interest rates and not changing its neutral stance, currently below the 78 handle against USD and poised to break lower as The City reacts tonight:

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The data calendar is pretty thin tonight with a few Treasury auctions to take note of but not much else.