Asian markets are aligning again with overseas risk taking with optimism surrounding the US/China trade deal building as the USD strengthens again vs the undollar assets. The Yuan fix remains below the 7 handle again, while Bitcoin continues to selloff, ready to tackle the November lows.
The Shanghai Composite was floating along and then shot higher before and after the lunch break to close up 1.5% to 3027 points, finally breaking through the long held 3000 point resistance level. Meanwhile the Hang Seng Index has matched its previous October highs, lifting 1.15 to be at 27813 points:
Japanese share markets got out of their little funk as Yen sold off through the session, pushing the Nikkei 225 0.47% higher to 24060 points. The USDJPY pair was unable to get higher than last night’s almost matching high but is slowly lifting there going into the London session:
The ASX200 was a wet blanket by finishing with a scratch result at 6847 points, just short of a new record high while the Aussie dollar fell to the Friday session low level at 68.60 in the wake of the RBA minutes, setting up for a selloff tonight:
Both S&P and Eurostoxx futures are up slightly going into the European open with the S&P500 four hourly chart showing price wanting to get to the next level of 3200 points, as the Santa rally continues:
The economic calendar has several secondary releases tonight including UK unemployment and US housing starts.