The mixed start to the trading week here in Asia continues with local stocks pulling back but not as much as feared given the selloff on Wall Street overnight or the growing property developer contagion in China. US stock futures are flat while the USD is strengthening against most of the risk currencies with gold pulling back to the $1760USD per ounce level. Meanwhile Bitcoin has been able to advance ever so slightly on its recent surge, hovering above the $49K level which represents a clear break of the previous weekly high:
Mainland Chinese markets are still closed for a holiday while the Hang Seng Index held on bravely with a scratch session to finish just above the 24000 point level while Japanese markets continued their sell mode with the Nikkei 225 closing 2% lower to 27835 points. The USDJPY pair is holding on though, decelerating into the 111 zone after making a new weekly low previously, with momentum still deeply negative but no new session lows:
Australian stocks managed only a minor selloff with the ASX200 down 0.4% to 7248 points while the Australian dollar has reversed all of yesterday’s gains and then some after today’s non-event RBA meeting, getting straight back to the mid 72 level and well below last week’s high:
Eurostoxx and S&P futures are flat going into the London open, with both major markets poised here at multi week or month support as the four hourly chart of the S&P500 clearly shows. A lack of buyers at the 4250 point level will see this taken out and turn into a full proper correction, but watch the BTFD crowd to step in and bid above the 4300 point level:
The economic calendar includes final services PMI results for Europe and Germany, while US trade balance and non-manufacturing PMI prints will dominate.