A very positive day here in Asia with all markets lifting higher, pushed along by the comeback of Japanese bourses following their extended NY holiday and another record high in US stocks overnight. Commodity prices continued to rise alongside other risk assets as the bull market 2018 party rages on!
In mainland China the Shanghai Composite has continued its advance lifting 0.3% to be at 3379 points, on its way to threaten resistance at 3400 points. The Hang Seng Index has made another new daily high, extending past the 30,000 point level with my expectation of a retracement here unfulfilled (read:wrong), lifting 0.5% to 30720 points:
S&P futures are gaining past the 2700 point barrier and looking way overextended, but hey, BTFD:
Japanese stocks finally re-opened for their extended New Years holiday and what an open – the Nikkei 225 rose over 3% in the session to be at 23,506 points, even as Yen gained somewhat. The USDJPY pair tried to get above the high moving average on the four hourly chart at the 112.70 level but retraced a little in the Asian session. This puts it into an interesting position going into tonight’s trading as it depends on a follow through of USD bulls following the FOMC minutes to gain traction here:
The ASX200 continues to be the party pooper, jumping at the open but unable to hold onto its gains, finishing with a scratch session, up only 0.1% to 6077 points.
The Aussie dollar has moved higher against the USD breaking out above the four hourly moving average band after failing to make any new session lows in its very brief retracement. This is looking very positive going into The City trade tonight:
The economic calendar goes back to secondary releases only tonight with a slew of European final PMI prints that have already been factored in, followed by US initial weekly jobless claims and a DOE crude oil inventory report.