There’s a more positive mood across Asia today due to Wall Street brushing aside any concerns about WW3 overnight, as the USD holds firmer across the board. The long wait to the February RBA meeting is seeing probability of a cut rising in the wake of poor macro data and the upcoming slashing of the surplus, while Bitcoin is breaking out to new high, briefly breaking the $8000 point barrier.
The Shanghai Composite is pushing higher after its recent scratch session, currently up 0.6% to 3104 points, while the Hang Seng Index has gained 0.5% to 28360 points, taking back its recent losses and providing a more sustainable trendline after late last week’s exuberance:
Japanese share markets are also in the money as Yen selling pushes them higher with the Nikkei 225 almost taking back its start of week losses to be up 1.6% to 23575 points. The USDJPY pair continues its nice little swing play higher after its deceleration move on the Monday open and is heading into the mid 108’s as European traders come to their desk and weigh some key data:
The ASX200 was a standout again, lifting more than expected to close 1.3% higher to 6826 points. The Australian dollar is slowly decelerating into the low 69’s as the four hourly chart is building to a bullish falling wedge pattern that could break violently either way:
Both S&P and Eurostoxx futures are suggesting further gains tonight with the S&P500 looking to retest its previous and very recent all time record high as the ramifications of a war with Iran are brushed aside like yesterday’s news:
The economic calendar ramps up properly tonight with the EZ CPI and retail sales print data, followed by the US ISM services report for December, all of which will be very USD-sensitive.