It’s an almost risk off day here in Asia as markets react to the weekend attack on Saudi oil production by the Yemeni’s, producing the inevitable spike in crude prices, gapping nearly 10% or so before moderating this afternoon. Other safe havens have seen a bid, most notably Yen but also gold which got back above the $1500USD per ounce level once more.
The Shanghai Composite reopened after a long weekend and was relatively stable, down just a handful of points to remain just abvoe the 3000 point barrier while the Hang Seng Index was not so lucky, closing 1% lower at 27062 points, holding just above former overhead resistance at 27000 points:
Japanese share markets were closed for a holiday, leaving speculation in Yen which saw the USDJPY pair gap down but not as far as expected, starting this morning at 107.50 before recovering to just below the 108 handle going into the City open:
The ASX200 acting made some gains, but only a handful of points, starting the week at 6673 points, as the Australian dollar remains relatively unaffected despite the risk off mood, still steady just below the 69 handle again:
S&P and Eurostoxx futures are down 0/7% to 0.9% with a quick glance at the S&P500 four hourly chart showing the inevitable risk off gap from the Saudi oil attacks, which puts any notion of getting back to the previous highs (solid black horizontal line) aside for now – watch trailing ATR support just below to hold:
The economic calendar starts the week slowly with some Treasury auctions and very minor tertiary releases, with all eyes on the Gulf and the bowser price…