Asian stocks have tried to follow the rebound from overnight markets, but have failed across the region, with this relief rally seemingly short lived. The March RBA meeting resulted in no change with the Aussie still depressed following its big reversal last week as other major currencies remain under the thumb of a stronger USD in the wake of the bond rout. Bitcoin has re-engaged after a weak start to the trading week, now pushing back up toward the $50K level with last week’s intrasession resistance at $51K the area to watch ahead:
The Shanghai Composite is down over 1.3% going into the close, currently at 3503 points while the Hang Seng Index is following in kind, down currently by 0.7% to 29242 points, as it fails to gain any momentum. Japanese markets are reversing the hardest, showing a lot of internal volatility with the Nikkei 225 about to close 0.9% lower at 29389 points while the USDJPY pair is still climbing higher, continuing its way up towards the 107 handle:
The ASX200 is the least affected, down only 0.4% to 6762 points, not helped by a deer in the headlights RBA, as the Australian dollar begins to rollover on its dead cat bounce, currently at the mid 77 level as momentum remains against it:
Eurostoxx and S&P futures are pulling down in line with Asian stocks going into the European opening session with the four hourly chart of the S&P500 showing an inabilty to breach the downtrend line from the early February lows with last week’s intrasession high above 3900 points proving powerful resistance:
The economic calendar is again full of flavour tonight, with German unemployment and EZ wide inflation figures dominating.