Following last night’s risk retracement, Asian stock markets have responded in kind with mild selloffs across the region, not helped by more property debt and iron ore price problems in China. The USD is now firming sharply against the major currencies, particularly the Aussie dollar while Yen safe haven buying has abated only slightly. Gold remains strong above the $1800USD per ounce level while Bitcoin’s new historic high breakout has pulled back again to the previous high just above the $66K level as it awaits more suckerbuyers:
Chinese shares are falling fast going into the afternoon session with the Shanghai Composite down 1%, currently at 3465 points while the Hang Seng Index is following along, down 1.1% as it collapses below the 25000 point level, now at 24532 points. Japanese markets are off about half these levels, with the Nikkei 225 closing 0.5% lower at 29130 points as the USDJPY pair hovers just below the 113 level not yet exceeding its current new weekly low:
Australian stocks are the relative best with swings and roundabouts sending the ASX200 down only 0.1% to close at 7423 points while the Australian dollar is moving from depressed to full selloff here to retrace fully below the 74 level against USD, now properly putting in a new weekly low:
Eurostoxx and S&P futures continue to look weak as we head into the London session with the four hourly chart of the S&P500 showing price retracing back towards short term ATR support that has held throughout this buying frenzy as all the short covering seems to have petered out:
The economic calendar will include the latest German inflation print, followed by the US version and initial weekly jobless claims.