by Chris Becker
Not the best start to the week here in Asia, with most stock markets either in the red or putting in scratch sessions in response to a tepid night on Wall Street on Friday. The Pound dropped in response to the weekend machinations around PM Theresa May while Yen is slightly weaker. Meanwhile, Bitcoin dropped nearly 30% over the weekend. Nothing to see there of course..
In mainland China the Shanghai Composite continues to build above its recent breakout above 3400, up 0.4% after the long lunch break to be at 3447 points going into the close. The Hong Kong based Hang Seng Index is up 0.3%, at 29215 points as resistance has been brushed aside as this goes into blowoff mode – note the momentum reading here on the daily chart:
S&P futures have gapped up slightly higher today in Asia, so it looks like a positive start tonight:
Japanese stocks continue to correct from their stratospheric highs with the Nikkei closing down 0.6% lower at 22544 points, but its got a long way to go before getting excited about a proper correction. The USDJPY pair gapped up slightly higher but is still basically at the 113.50 level and the intersection of the series of lower highs from last week:
The ASX200 start the week with a wet lettuce move, basically closing where it opened at 6021 points, unable to work out where its going. The banks traded places today as ANZ and Westpac went ex-dividend, while BHP was up 0.75% trying to recover its losses from Friday, with RIO closing over 1% higher
The Australian dollar is fighting back, bouncing off ATR support at the 76.40 level as it probably starts another week of sideways do nothing, with key resistance at 77.25 a long way away:
The data calendar starts the week with a whimper, with only a late night speech by BOJ Governor Kuroda in Zurich for Yen traders to wake up to..