Not a good start for risk markets as Monday provides plenty of gappy action, absorbing the news and politics of the weekend. Stocks were off across the region as the USD firmed against everything but Yen, as safe haven bids kept the Japanese currency high.
The Shanghai Composite has started the week poorly, currently 0.5% lower to 2709 points as it continues to reject dominating overhead resistance at the 2800 point level. The Hang Seng Index is down ever further, off almost 1% to 27621 points, unable to hold above previous terminal support at 28000 points as last week’s restriction below daily ATR resistance is carried through to this week. This looks like a typical correction with more to come:
S&P futures are down slightly with Eurostoxx retracing about 0.2% in early trading as markets re-assess the weekend risks:
Japanese stocks are falling in line as well as the Yen firms throughout the session, with the Nikkei 225 closing 0.7% lower at 22707 points. The USDJPY pair has failed to hold on above the 111 handle, taking back most of Friday night’s small gains and looking set to retest last week’s intra-session lows at the 110.65 level:
The ASX200 was the best in the region, only losing about 6 points or approx. 0.1% lower, still above the previously cleared key resistance at 6300 level, closing at 6313 points. The fall in the Aussie dollar has abated somewhat, given that Friday night’s falls were way overdone, but it’s still below the 72 handle here:
The economic calendar starts the week with a few central bank speeches tonight, first BOJ Governor Kuroda then the ECB’s Mersch later, but not much else.