Another sea of red for Asian stocks going into the end of the trading week but at least its not a bath of blood like that found on Wall Street at the moment, with minor retracements and some buying support evident. Bitcoin however can’t find any more buyers to shore up the recent rout, with another move lower today taking it towards the $47K level, not far off the recent crash lows:
The Shanghai Composite is down by 0.3% after being off by nearly 1% earlier in the session, currently at 3509 points while the Hang Seng Index is doing about the same, off by 0.3% to 29155 points. Japanese markets are falling more sharply however with the Nikkei 225 about to close 0.8% lower at 28701 points, about to breakthrough its three month long uptrend while the usually supportive USDJPY pair continues to climb well above the 109 handle:
The ASX200 is keeping pace with the selloff, losing 0.8% again to be at 6702 points just before the close while the Australian dollar is about to make a new weekly low going into tonight’s all-important NFP print, currently just hovering about the 77 handle and looking weak indeed:
Eurostoxx and S&P futures are whipsawing going into the European opening session, with the more illustrative daily chart of the S&P500 showing last night’s break of the trend channel that is on a downward track. The continued inability to breach the upper downtrend line from the early February lows is weighing, with the 3900 point barrier proving powerful resistance with the target below if confidence breaks further at 3700 points:
The economic calendar finishes the week with the big one – US unemployment or non-farm payrolls (NFP), which will set the course for volatility and risk taking for the rest of the month.
Have a good weekend and stay safe!