The trading week continues to flip and flop between hope and fear in Asia with another red day across stock markets as the selloff in bond markets becomes more crucial going into Friday nights US unemployment print. The USD is gaining against most of the currencies, not helped by the expected hike from the RBNZ this afternoon which has sent the Aussie dollar back slightly. US stock futures are indicating a poor start for Wall Street while gold pulls back to the $1750USD per ounce level. Meanwhile Bitcoin has consolidated on its surge above the $50K level, pausing here at just above $51K as is clears recent resistance highs:
Mainland Chinese markets remain closed for a holiday while the Hang Seng Index pulled back to finish 0.5% lower at just below the 24000 point level while Japanese markets continued their sell mode with the Nikkei 225 closing 1% lower to 27528 points. This despite the USDJPY pair pushing higher and almost hitting last week’s high at the 112 handle as reaches the 111.80 level:
Australian stocks reversed their previous gains with the ASX200 closing nearly 0.6% lower to 7206 points while the Australian dollar followed the Kiwi after the RBNZ hike, pulling back to the start of week position at the 72.60 level, continuing to reject overhead resistance at the 73 handle proper:
Eurostoxx and S&P futures have retraced much of the previous sessions gains as we head into the London open, with both major markets still poised at monthly support as the four hourly chart of the S&P500 shows. ATR resistance at the 4360 point level is still holding true from the start of the week and a lack of support at the 4250 point level still could see this turn into a full proper correction:
The economic calendar includes a couple Federal Reserve member speeches and the latest private jobs data as we head into Friday’s NFP print.