The risk on mood in Asia continues with very solid rises in Japan and China, with local markets drifting only a little higher as currency and commodity pressure weighs. The ECB QE outcome from last night is still rippling through currency markets with the Euro ready to surge higher again tonight.
The Shanghai Composite is closed for a holiday while the Hang Seng Index is up 0.5% to 27226 points, making good on its breakout above former overhead resistance at 27000 points:
Japanese share markets continue to fly higher and higher with the Nikkei 225 surging yet another 1% higher to 21988 points making another weekly high – but its too much too fast! The USDJPY pair is struggling to breakout above the 108 handle with a slight retracement this afternoon before the City opens:
The ASX200 is slowly making some headway, making another 0.2% in gains to finish the week well above 6600 points, as the Australian dollar remains relatively depressed following last night’s false breakout, currently just below the 69 handle again:
S&P and Eurostoxx futures are fairly flat at the moment, but a cursory glance at the S&P500 four hourly chart shows momentum building and wanting to breakout above the previous highs (solid black horizontal line) so watch out tonight:
The economic calendar finishes the week with US advanced retail sales for August. Have a good weekend!