Following the bounce on Wall Street overnight, Asian stocks came back to end the trading week with relatively strong sessions. However the week in aggregate can be written off a scratch session with stocks in a clear holding pattern as the realisation of a “2nd” wave of the coronavirus throughout the US is gaining hold. Currencies were somewhat muted with USD gaining a little while gold slipped slightly.
In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite remains closed, while in occupied Hong Kong the Hang Seng Index gapped lower with a selloff below the previous daily lows, finishing 0.8% lower at 24586 points:
Japanese stocks rallied with the Nikkei 225 finishing 1.2% higher to take back its previous losses, finishing at 22512 points and staving off a new weekly low. Meanwhile the USDJPY pair retraced slightly following its recent bounce, falling back to just above the 107 handle as momentum on the four hourly charts inverts:
The ASX200 was the best in the region this time, closing 1.5% higher to 5904 points but still looking weak on the longer term charts. The Aussie dollar found some buying support but only just with a failure to get back above the 69 handle quite telling here going into the end of the week:
Eurostoxx futures are up 0.5% or so while S&P futures are flat with the four hourly chart still poised here at the recent session highs just above 3060 points, as it too goes nowhere for nearly two weeks now:
Have a nice weekend and stay safe!