Its a relatively bullish close to the trading week here in Asia, with Chinese stocks the only fly in the ointment as risk confidence returns after last night Facebook blip. With the ECB meeting out of the way, USD watchers are looking closely at the Q2 GDP print tonight, with most currency pairs treading water in anticipation.
The Shanghai Composite gapped down at the open, recovering most of the loss throughout the session but is now going back down into the close, off 0.2% lower at 2875 points, remaining below recent resistance above 2900 points and sending a signal that the bears remain in charge.. The Hang Seng Index is following somewhat, down a few points to 28742, unable to turn this swing play move any higher off of support at 28000 points proper:
S&P futures are up slightly alongside Eurostoxx with traders anticipating the Q2 GDP print tonight that should push aside any “FANG” concerns. The S&P500 four hourly chart continues to look like a stairway to heaven again as the market tries to move back to the former high at 2875:
Japanese stocks have much the week on a higher note, with the Nikkei 225 closing about 0.5% higher to 22712 points, although price remains stuck between the low and high moving average band on the daily chart. The USDJPY pair is not making much headway either, stuck within its on band on the four hourly chart, anticipating tonights GDP print and still looking bearish as it barely holds above the 111 handle:
The ASX200 surprises and closes the week out right on 6300 points! The bulls are clearly in charge here, economy be damned. The Aussie dollar is still unable to translate any recent bounces into meanigniful gains and looks set to close the week out below the 74 handle:
The data calendar finishes the week with a big one – second quarter GDP for the US, followed by an oil rig count for the commodity watchers.