Risk sentiment continues to slide here in Asia, except local stocks which took the headline fall in the latest unemployment figures at face value. The USD has firmed against most of the majors with gold and silver struggling, the former pushed back below the $1900USD per ounce level again:
The Shanghai Composite struggled throughout its session and finished with a scratch effort at 3339 points while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng Index fell sharply to close 1.3% lower at 24349 points. Japanese stock markets also took a beating with the Nikkei 225 falling 0.5% to close at 23507 points despite Yen buying abating somewhat as the USDJPY pair bounced back from its early week falls, getting just above the 105.20 level:
The ASX200 was the standout, rising over 0.5% to finsih at 6210 points at a new monthly high, while the Australian dollar fell sharply on the unemployment print, heading straight down to the 71 handle and almost making a new weekly low:
Eurostoxx and S%P futures are down nearly 1% or so going into the European open with the S&P500 four hourly chart now breaking below short term support at the 3480 point level after being rebuffed at short term resistance at 3500 points:
The economic calendar includes the latest US initial jobless claims tonight.
Addendum: basic technical analysis for you out there – a classic inverted “bullish” head and shoulders pattern as the US goes into their winter:
