Stock markets are mixed across Asia as this bull rally takes a small pause with the ASX200 the biggest loser as the Australian dollar remains elevated post Budget night.
The Shanghai Composite is up 0.9% going into the close at 3244 points, while the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index has retreated 0.5% to 29821 points after getting well ahead of itself and moving into this extremely overbought position, where a small dip on mean reversion down to 29500 or so is to be expected:
US and Eurostoxx futures are flat going into tonight’s session with the four hourly chart of the S&P 500 showing some hesitation here after advancing well past its previous breakout level but still setting up for a return to the previous highs above 2900 points:
Japanese stock markets are putting in a scratch session as Yen strengthens slightly, with the Nikkei 225 closing 0.1% higher to 21724 points and still consolidating above its recent highs. The USDJPY pair is slowing down its recent rally as a bearish rising wedge pattern forms on the four hourly chart with the potential to reverse and head back to the 111 handle:
The ASX200 has retreated, taken back all of yesterdays gains to close 0.8% lower to 6232 points, lead mainly by banks but also gold miner Newcrest which lost more than 2%. The Australian dollar is holding steady just above the 71 handle after failing to make a substantive breakout overnight and is still below the weekly downtrend line:
The economic calendar has a couple releases of note to keep an eye out on, first being the ECB March minutes, then US initial jobless claims for the week.