A mixed session across Asia, echoing a similar mood in Europe and Wall Street overnight with Japanese stocks falling on reaction to a poor consumer confidence print and the possibility of more lockdowns due to a local uptick in coronavirus cases. Elsewhere it was more positive, with gold and other major currencies lifting but this hasn’t translated into positive stock futures with the new financial year expected to open lower on overseas markets tonight.
In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite is surging higher and finally back above 3000 points to be up 1.3% to 3026 points while in occupied Hong Kong the Hang Seng Index was closed due to what is not really going to be a holiday anymore given the tight grip the CCP has on the wayward province. Nevertheless, futures are indicating a flat start on resumption:
Japanese stocks are getting a little more volatile with mild selloffs on the Nikkei 225, down nearly 0.8% to 22121 points with the USDJPY pair shooting up through the 108 handle before the comments from the chief cabinet seceretary sent it and stocks down, now resting at the recent highs at the 107.70 level:
The ASX200 has started the financial year with a mild up session, lifting 0.6% to be back above 5900 points while the Aussie dollar found more buyers before retracing the overnight gains to slip back under the 69 handle again:
Eurostoxx futures are down 0.2% or so with S&P futures off by nearly 0.5% with the four hourly chart showing how price really needs to crack through the 3100 point level that corresponds to overhead resistance and get out of this two weeks of sideways price action:
