The big fall in Chinese trade for February has seen a big slump on stock markets across Asia, not helped by the poor showing on transatlantic markets as the ECB plays catchup to the prospect of a Euro-wide recession. Yen has surged against the USD on the safe haven bid, while the Aussie dollar is barely clinging on just above 70 cents. A wonderful session before the NFP print tonight!
The Shanghai Composite has been smacked down, losing nearly 3% going into the close, just clinging on above 3000 points and putting a big damper on this weeks outsized returns. The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index is off by more than 1.5%, currently at 28347 points, still unable to make any headway as 29000 points turns into very firm resistance and price rolls over, heading towards ATR support at below 28000:
US and Eurostoxx futures are falling again as volatility reigns with tonights NFP print not something to look forward to for most traders. The S&P 500 four hourly chart looks extremely ominous as it craters and sets up for a move back down to monthly support at 2630 points or so:
Japanese stock markets dived because of a strong upside move in Yen as risk abandoned all hope for the weekend, with the Nikkei 225 currently down nearly 2% to just over 21000 points, capping off a very bad week, now back to its previous breakout level at 21000 points in early February. The USDJPY pair is now dicing with the 111 handle after falling below ATR support at 111.50 on a strong safe haven bid, with the 110 handle the next target at weekly support:
The ASX200 is still the best achiever, only losing about 0.9% to pullback to the 6200 point level, as it still remains a standout in terms of risk appetite. The Australian dollar is dicing with the 70 handle as shorts pile in on the risk-off trade, having rejected what was weekly support at 70.60 and now ready to swing into gear for longer term falls – my target is 63 cents:
The economic calendar will be dominated tonight by the February US unempoyment print – non farm payrolls of NFP – which will set the risk scene for the rest of March.