Vaccine volatility has abated in mixed fashion across the region with Chinese shares unsettled, with not much action on currency markets except Kiwi which jumped on the RBNZ meeting. Gold is still plodding on after its big retracement, currently up slightly to the $1881USD per ounce level, still way off its prebreakdown high:
The Shanghai Composite is having another scratch session, currently down a handful of points at 3360 points while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng Index is only a handful of points higher, currently at 26312 points. Japanese stock markets are picking up speed though with the Nikkei 225 closing 1.7% higher to 25323 points, back to 1991 levels! Meanwhile the huge lift in the USDJPY pair has continued its stallout just above the 105 handle:
The ASX200 has put in a much better session today, climbing 1.7% higher to close at 6449 points. Meanwhile the Australian dollar had a small peak-a-boo above the 73 handle as it begins to move out of its consolidation phase post the vaccine news:
Eurostoxx and S&P futures are still in pause mode after a small retracement on Wall Street overnight, although the four hourly chart of the S&P is stabilising here just above the October highs at the 3500 point level:
The economic calendar includes several ECB speeches to watch out for tonight, including from President LaGarde.