An uneasy start to the trading week for Asian stock markets as Chinese bourses continued to diverge in fortune, Japanese markets tread water while local shares continue to slump. The USD is holding strong against the major currency pairs with Euro looking to put in more monthly lows while gold is trying to hold on to support at the $1850USD per ounce level. Meanwhile Bitcoin has seen some big volatility coming out of the gates with a surge towards the $60K level before getting slammed down to the $57K, all before lunch:
Chinese shares are diverging again with the Shanghai Composite up nearly 0.6% going into the close, currently at 3579 points while the Hang Seng Index has gone the other way, falling 0.6% to be at 24907 points. Japanese markets are steadying here somewhat with the Nikkei 225 closing 0.1% higher at 29780 points while the USDJPY pair is slowly clawing its way back with a little peekaboo above the 114 level:
Australian stocks are feeling the psychological pressure of not getting back above previous support with the ASX200 falling over 0.6% to close at 7353 points as the Australian dollar goes nowhere but at least its not making new lows, currently right on the mid 72 level after previously making a new weekly and monthly low:
Eurostoxx and S&P futures are relatively flat going into the London open with momentum about to push into the overbought zone for the S&P500, as the four hourly chart shows price ready to climb back above the recent highs at the 4700 point level:
The economic calendar starts the week fairly quietly with US existing home sales data the only event of note.