Not a good start to the week here in Asia with a sea of red on stock markets in response to the weekend seizure of a British oil tanker by Iranian forces, but also the walkback of the Fed easing more than expected at this month’s FOMC meeting.
Chinese stocks sold off the most with the Shanghai Composite now 1% lower and below the 2900 point barrier while the Hang Seng Index is also off, closing 0.8% lower to 28520 points. This puts it just on or about the previous set of highs at 28500 as pressure mounts here:
Japanese share markets were able to shake off most of the negative sentiment due to a much weaker Yen, but the Nikkei 225 still fell, closing 0.2% lower to 21416 points. The USDJPY pair bounced back and followed through from its Friday night reversal and is just above the 108 handle going into the City open:
The ASX200 was the relative best in the region, falling 10 points or about 0.2% to close at 6691 points. The Australian dollar melted down very slowly without even the hint of a gap from the weekend, and remains well above the 70 handle level but just on the previous highs:
S&P and Eurostoxx futures are flat in early trade with the S&P500 four hourly chart showing how much of a struggle the major bourse is having in trying to get back above the 3000 point level following last week’s perfect rising wedge setup as the disappointing earnings season carries on:
The economic calendar starts the week very slowly although BOJ Governor Kuroda is making a speech tonight in Washington.