Asian stock markets are quite mixed with only local shares putting on any meaningful gains with Japanese shares losing ground in the face of a stronger Yen. Meanwhile the USD remains strong following Fed Chair Powell’s “time to taper” comments on Friday night with the Aussie weakening although gold is inching its way back above the $1800USD per ounce level. Meanwhile Bitcoin is teetering just on the $62K level after the weekend gap trade saw it remain well below the previous and recent new record high:
Chinese shares are struggling to gain traction with the Shanghai Composite wanting to push through the 3600 point level, currently up 0.3% after the long lunch break to 3595 points while the Hang Seng Index is dead flat at 26150 points. Japanese markets are pulling back strongly on the back of a much stronger Yen and softer economic news with the Nikkei 225 closing 0.8% lower at 28558 points as the USDJPY pair remains weak here after deflating from the mid week point, gaining a handful of pips but still near the Friday low at the 113.70 level:
Australian stocks have performed the best in the region with the ASX200 closing well above the 7400 point level, up 0.3% to 7441 points while the Australian dollar is consolidating just below the 75 handle here after a small dip down on Friday night which hasn’t followed through below four hourly support at the mid 74 level:
Eurostoxx and S&P futures are very slowly drifting nowhere as we head into the London session, with the four hourly chart of the S&P500 showing price still well supported but stuck at the 4540 level after the pause on Friday night. Short and medium term support remains strong here for now:
The economic calendar starts the week off quietly with the Germany IFO survey and a few Treasury auctions.