Asian stocks are mixed following the disappointing NFP print on Friday night, although it seems risk off has been priced in by most markets as the USD takes a breather. The Australian dollar has bounced off the 70 cent level while Yen has sold off giving Japanese stocks a small boost to start the week.
The Shanghai Composite is back over 3000 points again, currently up 1% and looking a lot better after its weak finish last week. The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index is doing well too, up 0.7% to 28422 points, bouncing off trailing ATR support on the daily chart. The uptrend is over, but the dip here has not followed through, so watch for signs of a recovery above the high moving average:
US and Eurostoxx futures are broadly up as the mild volatility from Friday’s limp NFP print isn’t translated over the weekend to anything ominous. The S&P 500 four hourly chart is instead looking ripe to bounce here back up to trailing ATR resistance to 2770 points after it tests and firms up monthly support at 2630 points below:
Japanese stock markets have recovered somewhat due to a weaker Yen, with the Nikkei 225 currently up 0.6% to just over 21100 points, trying to hold on to its previous breakout point in early February. The USDJPY pair is has pushed through the 111 handle and is set to test the Thursday/Friday session highs here, so I’m watching for a follow through above to the 111.30 level as weekly support remains respected:
The ASX200 was the worst today, with a very late rally unable to close a big gap this morning, down 0.3% to remain below the 6200 point level. The Australian dollar has bounced firmly off the 70 handle after previously rejecting weekly support at 70.60 – this is still setting up for longer term falls but the inevitable short covering exercise may be afoot. My long term target remains below at 63 cents:
The economic calendar starts the week with two important releases to keep an eye on, first the German trade figures for January, then US advanced retail sales number print for the same month.