by Chris Becker
So we end the week on a more positive note in Asia today, as risk gets less cautious going into the NFP print later tonight in the ‘States, and gains some confidence on more positive news from the Brexit talks. The Yen sold off, helping domestic Japanese stocks, as did a lower Aussie dollar for the local market.
In mainland China the Shanghai Composite finally stopped falling, but still remains below key support at 3300 points, up 0.5% to be at 3289 points going into the close. The next support zone at the 3200 level could be snapped up quite fast. The Hang Seng Index is also bouncing, even stronger by being up 1.4% to recover most of its mid week fall, closing at 28675 points. As I considered, this action could be the start of a consolidation and a bottoming play before another attempt to get past 29000:
S&P futures are slowly melting higher as the risk-on mood brightens:
Japanese stocks again lifted on the negative Yen, with the Nikkei closing nearly 1.4% higher to 22811 points. The USDJPY pair is soaring above the 113 handle as it makes a new weekly high here. Momentum is slightly overcooked now, with a small retracement before the NFP tonight to be expected:
The ASX200 tried to finish the week above 6000 points but just missed out, in what was a positive session but without any follow through, closing 0.3% higher to 5997 points.
The Aussie dollar might be finally finding a bottom here after falling most of the week, just clinging on to support above the 75 handle against USD. This is still below November low at the 75.40 level and I still think a full retracement back to 73.50 or lower is on the cards here:
The data calendar ends the week with the big one- US non farm payrolls (NFP aka unemployment).