by Chris Becker
Outside China its been a pretty good day for stock markets across Asia today, following through on the advances on Wall Street overnight, with Australian stocks still cheered on as earnings season rolls by. The PBOC fixed Yuan much higher against USD today, sending the onshore trade down to the 6.91 level from 6.93 previously, while gold was unable to keep on to its breakout above the $2000USD per ounce level due to a rebound in USD strength, with silver moderating in a similar fashion to remain below the $28 level as the precious metal lockstep continues:
In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite has been down all day and looks set to close 0.5% lower at 3433 points while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng Index is off even more, currently down 0..9% at 25139 points. Japanese stock markets are coming back however after a poor start to the week and a slightly lower Yen, with the Nikkei 225 closing 0.3% higher at 23110 points, with the USDJPY pair rebounding from its near freefall with a solid bounce back up to the mid 105 level:
The ASX200 is the stand, again putting on nearly 0.8% to 6167 points while the Australian dollar continues to hesitate at the previous weekly highs at the 72.40 level and could stumble here if the USD rebounds further:
Eurostoxx futures are up 0.3% so might finally see some good upside action on European equities while S&P futures keep climbing ever higher despite a stronger USD, with the S&P500 four hourly chart surpassing previous significant resistance at the pre-pandemic highs at the 3380 point level:
