Today’s BOJ interest rate meeting came and went without much fuss, as Chinese markets were buoyed by higher house price growth. The USD retreated against all the majors, particularly offshore trading in Yuan.
The Shanghai Composite was doing well mid session but is now heading towards 3000 points, still up over 0.5% to end the week though. The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index has finally broke out above 29000 points, closing 0.7% higher and looking ripe to follow through here on the daily chart:
US and Eurostoxx futures are up slightly as markets start to regain confidence. The S&P 500 four hourly chart is still showing some hesitation in following through on gains above the 2800 point level:
Japanese stock markets are up solidly following the BOJ interest rate meeting, despite a strengthening Yen, with the Nikkei 225 closing nearly 1% higher to just over 21474 points, but still unable to break free of its previous breakout point in early February. The USDJPY pair has retreated slightly, falling below previous trailing ATR resistance before a late recovery this afternoon. There is still the potential for a run up to last weeks high at the 112 handle but it maybe too far to reach tonight:
The ASX200 is the worst performer in the region, closing down 0.1% to 6175 points with bank shares behind the weak end to the week. The Australian dollar remains volatile with a wide trading range day, still below the 71 handle but with no direction as the megaphone pattern on the four hourly chart continues to play out:
The economic calendar finishes the week with the final EZ wide CPI prints for February, then the Uni of Michigan sentiment survey and February industrial production numbers in the US, plus a private oil rig count.