Another mixed day across Asia with only Chinese stocks rallying as the more correlated risk markets prepare for some serious economic releases. Yen hit another new high against USD while sovereign bond yields continued to fall following the US Treasury lead.
In mainland China the Shanghai Composite continues to build on its positive start to the week, currently up 0.5% to finally get back above 3200 points. The Hang Seng Index is doing even better, up 1.6% to 30323 points. The daily chart is looking a bit more promising with the next level of resistance to beat the daily lows at 30700:
S&P futures are up slightly in anticipation of tonights CPI print. I’m still looking for a return above 2680 or so before getting fully bullish:
Japanese stocks are still selling off in the wake of the very strong Yen. The Nikkei 225 closed 0.4% lower to 21154 points as momentum remains seriously negative. The USDJPY pair continues its slump below key weekly support at the 108.50 level, heading for the 107 handle in what could be a much wider breakdown:
The ASX200 pushed back after its positive session yesterday, closing 15 points or 0.3% lower to 5841. The Aussie dollar continues to push higher towards the 79 handle as it meets its key resistance at the 78.80 level:
The economic calendar ramps up significantly with two sets of major releases tonight. First its German/Italian and EZ wide GDP and then in the US its the January retail sales and CPI prints.