A mixed day to end the trading week here in Asia with the PBOC keeping the Yuan nice and weak, still well above the 7 handle against USD, with most stock markets putting in scratch sessions.
Meanwhile, the Shanghai Composite has been unable to gain any momentum, slumping and down over 0.4% since the return of the long lunch break to 2784 points while the Hang Seng Index is also off and unsteady, down 0.2% to 26073 points. This keeps it just above the January lows at 25000 points where it remains in trouble with very poor momentum:
Japanese share markets are doing the best in the region with the Nikkei 225 currently up more than 0.5% to 20709 points, despite a firmer Yen that has pulled back the USDJPY pair below the 106 handle. This risk proxy is looking to breakdown here as the bearish descending triangle pattern on the four hourly chart nears competition:
The ASX200 is currently up only 0.25% or so to finish a topsy turvy week, unable to breach 6600 points while the Australian dollar continues its comeback to hover just above the 68 handle as its strong swing move higher has the potential to breakout even further:
S&P and Eurostoxx futures are flat here with the S&P500 four hourly chart still showing a tentative bottom as it bounces off 2800 points but its a little ahead of itself and ripe for a pullback that could turn into a dead cat bounce:
The economic calendar has a few big releases tonight to watch, namely the German trade balance and UK GDP print then Canadian unemployment and the US PPI numbers. Have a good weekend!