A big surge across the board here in Asia in response to the positive finish to the week on Friday night on Wall Street with Chinese stocks leading the way. The USD has retreated against the risk currencies, namely Kiwi and Australian dollar, but gapped higher against Yen, supporting the risk on mood.
The Shanghai Composite has launched another 2% higher to close above 3170 points, making good on its Friday performance, while the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index closed 1.6% higher to 29542 points. This takes it past the previous high as momentum pushes into the nicely overbought zone as support builds at the previous daily lows at the 28500 point level:
US and Eurostoxx futures have gapped higher going into tonight’s session with the four hourly chart of the S&P 500 again looking to get back to the previous week highs at 2860 points after Friday nights surge:
Japanese stock markets are gaining more traction because of a much weaker Yen, with the Nikkei 225 closing 1.4% higher to 21509 points, finally making a new substantial daily high after being in a sideways slide for so long. The USDJPY pair gapped above the 110 handle this morning and remains there going into the City open, making a two weekly high but can it stick this tonight:
The ASX200 is the worst performer, but its all relative as it closes nearly 0.7% higher to 6216 points, finally getting above staunch resistance at 6200 points and finally showing some signs of life. The Australian dollar has gapped higher as well with a solid move higher above the 71 handle and advancing this afternoon, almost in line with its downtrend line on the four hourly chart:
The economic calendar starts the week with a plethora of big releases tonight, first up its the March EZ wide CPI print, then US advanced retail sales plus March’s ISM manufacturing print.