Asian stock markets are generally positive again following mild risk taking in overnight markets as the spectre of the US Fed tapering earlier than expected is not really weighing down expectations, offset by the passing of President Biden’s infrastructure plan. The USD gave a little reprieve during the session but undollars are rolling over going into the London session with gold still under a lot of pressure. While the shiny metal hasn’t made a new low during today’s session, this has not yet translated into a proper swing higher, stuck currently at the $1731USD per ounce level:
The Shanghai Composite was listless most of the session, ending with a scratch session at 3534 points while the Hang Seng Index was equally unchanged, unable to build on its positive start to the week, finishing dead flat at 26593 points. Japanese stocks however were the biggest movers with the Nikkei 225 breaking out with a solid 0.6% move higher up to 28070 points while the USDJPY pair has pushed higher to remain solidly above the medium term weekly downtrend line (upper sloping black line) as it advances towards the 111 level:
Australian stocks are edging along with another positive session, the ASX200 closing 0.3% higher at 7584 points while the Australian dollar failed to make good on a nascent breakout from overnight trade, remaining depressed at the 73 handle and ready to go back to the previous weekly lows:
Eurostoxx and S&P futures are deflating slowly going into the London open,with the four hourly chart of the S&P500 still showing price anchored at the 4420 point level following the better than expected NFP print with momentum waning:
The economic calendar is inflation focused tonight, first with the German and then US July prints, then quite a few Federal Reserve speeches to keep an eye out for.