Asian stock markets have had a steady start to the trading week with some mild sessions across the region, following quite a tepid finish on Wall Street on Friday night. The USD has given back some of its gains with most majors gapping slightly higher this morning and firming going into the London session, although gold is stalling. Crypto currencies remain under enormous pressure with Bitcoin gapping through to the $33K level with a 10% rally this afternoon as volatility continues to spike:
The Shanghai Composite is lifting slightly, up by 0.3% going into the close to try to get back above the 3500 point level, while the Hang Seng Index is going the other way, down 0.3% to 28367 points. Japanese stocks are somewhat upbeat, although the Nikkei 225 only closed 0.2% higher to 28364 points. Meanwhile the USDJPY immediately sold off on the open, heading back below the 109 handle as it takes back its Friday nights gains as it breaks below four hourly support again:
The ASX200 is putting in a mild finish, up only 0.2% but still advancing above the 7000 point level to close at 7045 points while the Australian dollar remains largely unchanged and on the deck after being flummoxed on Friday night, struggling to find support here at the 77.30 level:
Eurostoxx and S&P futures are up in line with Asian shares, the latter moving 0.2% higher in early trade with the four hourly chart of the S&P500 showing price still gravitating around the intrasession high from last week at the 4160 point area :
The economic calendar is very quiet tonight with a few speeches from Federal Reserve board members and not much else.