Stocks in Asia are again under pressure following the poor lead from Wall Street, but also from a slump in trade figures in Japan, sending Japanese stocks falling as Yen gained against USD. The Aussie dollar has lifted inexorably after a poor unemployment print, dragging the Kiwi along for the ride.
The Shanghai Composite gapped lower and has remained low throughout the session, currently down nearly 1% going into the close at 2904 points while the Hang Seng Index is also off, closing 0.6% lower to 28410 points. This puts it lower than the previous set of highs at 28500 as pressure mounts with a series of lower lows:
Japanese share markets are again the worst off as the latest trade numbers saw confidence disappear with Yen shooting higher on the safe haven bid. The Nikkei 225 slumped as a result, closing 2% lower to 21046 points, wiping out all of the July gains. The USDJPY pair has flopped straight below the 108 handle and has made a new weekly low, almost matching the monthly low at the 107.50 level:
The ASX200 was the relative best in the region, falling only 0.3% to close at 6649 points. The Australian dollar lifted strangely on the unemployment print, hitting the start of week highs at 70.30 or so and may gain traction on the City open only because its going up!
S&P and Eurostoxx futures are down at least 0.7% with the S&P500 four hourly chart showing the recent retracement may gain pace and get back down to the previous low at 2960 points if this disappointing earnings season carries on:
The economic calendar continues with some Treasury auctions plus weekly initial jobless claims.