Generally a sea of red across Asian stock markets today, with no real lead overnight, risk markets are twitchy about a cavalcade of catalysts. Oil prices remain depressed following the late week reversal by OPEC, while the Italian elections are weighing on European risk as traders await the US unemployment print on Friday night.
The Shanghai Composite has shown its hand, falling more than 0.4% to close at 3120, well below resistance at 3200 points and removing almost all buying pressure as it heads to key support at 3100. The Hang Seng Index had a worse day, taking back its positive Monday open and then some to finish nearly 1% lower at 30500. Price had rebounded off the low moving average previously, but its now a memory as the daily chart points to a full retracement to support at or slightly below 30000:
S&P futures have sold off late in the Asian session, as have EuroStoxx futures with the return from the long weekend possibly turning sour tonight so watch support at 2700 proper:
Japanese stocks continue to slump as Yen gets stronger on the safe haven bid with Nikkei 225 losing over 0.5% to close at 22358, now pushing below trailing ATR support and looking ready to breakdown. The USDJPY pair has broken the bottom edge of the symmetrical triangle that was playing out on the four hourly chart, so now we’re in for a race down:
The ASX200 was the bright spark, actually gaining around 0.2% to still close above 6000 points at 6013 – someone is bidding! The Aussie dollar fell throughout the session in a soft selloff not quite in line with other majors, but near enough as its approaches key support intersections at just above the 75 handle that must hold for the bulls to remain in charge:
The economic calendar ramps up tonight with US consumer confidence and house price figures for May.