Following the poor lead from US stocks overnight, its been a rough day here in Asia, although the return of Chinese markets stopped a sea of red across the board. Its all about bond yields with Treasuries spiking and about to breach 3%, taking the USD with it, although Asian currencies like Yen and the Aussie moderate a little in early trade.
Chinese markets finally returned after the NY celebrations with the Shanghai Composite gapping nearly 2% higher to 3264 points. The Hang Seng Index is going the other way, down nearly 1% to 31142, but still within its slowly rising moving average band. I’m watching the previous daily low at 30600 or so for building support:
S&P futures have retreated slightly after last night’s selloff but there are some signs of a small return as we head into the London session. But with key support broken, everyone is watching 2700 points for the BTFD crowd to work their magic:
Japanese stocks fell off the wagon, with the Nikkei 225 putting off more than 1% to 21736 points, taking out the last three daily lows as it heads back to the mid point of control at 21400. The USDJPY pair is stable here at the 107.35 level, unable to break above resistance at the 107.85 area:
The ASX200 had yet another scratch day, finishing 7 points higher to 5951 points with quite a lot volatility in the Small Ords/outside the ASX50 as earnings continues today. Qantas was up nearly 6% while AGL dropped 5% as the banks just tread water. The Aussie dollar is sniffing about the 78 handle as traders wonder where to go from here after the rug was pulled out from the Pacific Peso early last week:
The economic calendar continues tonight with more minutes, this time the ECB January release, followed by DOE crude oil inventories.