Macro Afternoon

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A mixed end to the week here in Asia with Japanese stocks catching up to the rebound, Chinese bourses closed for NY celebrations and the ASX200 lagging as industrials and media stocks selloff going into the weekend. Oil prices continue to show some more exuberance, hitting a one week high while gold and other undollars rose on the back of a continually weaker USD.

S&P futures are up slightly after last nights solid performance. Note on the four hourly chart below how the false breakout last week has been cleared which sets the stage for this recovery to continue:

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Japanese stocks continued their rebound even though Yen is still firming against the USD. The Nikkei 225 closed 1.42% higher to 21720 points. That takes it to the edge of this symmetrical triangle on the daily chart, where I’m still looking at 22000 points as natural resistance to get over.

The USDJPY pair continues its slump, now sharply below the 106 handle at 105.70 as it looks like parity is on its way:

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The ASX200 is still above the 5900 points level, but only just, having lost 5 points today to close the week out at 5904. The Aussie dollar continues to push higher as it gained momentum above the 79 handle overnight, with the previous strong support, now resistance at the 80.50 level (red horizontal line) my target here:

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The economic calendar finishes the week with US housing starts for January plus the University of Michigan consumer sentiment print.