Asian stock markets are having mixed returns in response to the selloff on Wall Street on Friday night in the wake of the disappointing NFP jobs report. The USD remains strong against all the majors as the Australian dollar broke below the 70 cent level while gold is holding on above the $1785USD per ounce level, finally not making any new session lows. Bitcoin on the other hand is getting assaulted on all sides with a mammoth drop to well below the $50K level after some very volatile weekend trading:
Mainland Chinese shares fell sharply going into the close with the Shanghai Composite down nearly 0.5% to cross back below the 3600 point level while the Hang Seng Index continues to bury itself with another deep loss, down 1.3% to 23466 points. Japanese markets remain under pressure with the Nikkei 225 closing 0.4% lower at 27927 points with the USDJPY pair bouncing just slightly above the 113 level for a weak start to the trading week:
Australian stocks were one of the lucky ones, with the ASX200 just able to put in a positive session, lifting 0.1% to close at 7245 points as the Australian dollar managed to get back above the 70 handle after the big selloff on Friday night sent it down into the 60’s, but this bounce maybe shortlived:
Eurostoxx futures and S&P futures are lifting a little going into the London open, with the S&P500 four hourly chart showing price still wanting to breakout above the week long downtrend line but buying support remains insufficient despite the key 4500 point level holding in the recent downmove:
The economic calendar is always quiet post the NFP print with just the latest factory orders from Germany and a few US Treasury auctions to keep an eye on.