With most markets here in Asia in light volume mode, there’s been a bit of downside volatility that’s not unexpected going into the Christmas period. The PBOC increased the Yuan fix well above the 7.01 handle and offshore trading has followed in kind, while Bitcoin has jumped higher from the weekend gap – now up over $1000 since the drop last week!
The Shanghai Composite is down over 1% going into the close, breaking below the long held 3000 point resistance level, while the Hang Seng Index is putting in a scratch session to be down barely 0.1% at 27843 points as it hovers right on the previous October highs:
Japanese share markets are in go nowhere mode too, with the Nikkei 225 starting the week with another scratch session, closing a handful of points higher to 23821 points. The USDJPY pair is right on its mid point of control just below the mid 109 level after a somewhat volatile Friday night session, and looks very weak going into the City open:
The ASX200 is off by nearly 0.5% to break below the 6800 point level to start the week, closing at 6785 points. The stubbornly high Australian dollar is partly to blame, opening just above the 69 handle and where it finished on Friday night, but not advancing any further in the afternoon session as short term momentum is rolling over:
Both S&P and Eurostoxx futures are somewhat flat going into the European open with the S&P500 four hourly chart still showing price bubbling ever higher as the former resistance level at 3200 points is now a distant memory, the market looking more stretched than ever:
The economic calendar starts the week with US durable goods orders for November.