Stocks in Asia are mixed again with the return of Japanese stocks as the USD gains strength against most of the major currencies, particularly Yen, although Kiwi keeps on as its CPI print comes in as expected.
The Shanghai Composite continues its slow start to the week, falling 0.2% going into the close, currently at 2934 points while the Hang Seng Index is up 0.2% to 28599points, trying to maintain itself above the previous set of highs at 28500:
Japanese share markets reopened today and sold off immediately, with the Nikkei 225 closing 0.6% lower to 21535 points, despite a falling Yen throughout the session. The USDJPY pair has pushed back up to the 108 handle, almost ready to breakout of the bullish falling wedge pattern on the four hourly chart:
The ASX200 can’t gain any traction with another losing session today, down 0.2% to 6641 points, again mainly due to bank stocks with AMP the biggest loser. The Australian dollar has stalled out here, unable to continue its bounce from last week and is barely hovering above the 70 cent level against USD::
S&P and Eurostoxx futures are down 0.2% with the S&P500 four hourly chart showing a lot of hesitation here above the key psychological 3000 point barrier:
The economic calendar continues with the very closely watched German ZEW survey plus advanced retail sales in the US.