Asian stock markets are trying to bounceback after Friday night’s big surge on Wall Street but with mainland Chinese markets closed and without much of a positive catalyst, its an uneasy start ot the week. The USD remains very strong against most of the major currency pairs, although there are some minor signs of recovery in risk currencies like the Aussie but gold remains on the floor, stuck below the $1800USD per ounce level and looking set to rollover further:
Mainland Chinese shares are closed for Chinese New Year and won’t be back until next week, but the Hang Seng Index was open for today, currently up a little more than 1% to take back its Friday losses. Japanese markets are also coming back with the Nikkei 225 closing 1.3% higher at 27076 points while the USDJPY pair is trying to get back on track after quickly reversing on Friday night to the low 115 level but is still finding a lot of overhead resistance here:
Australian stocks however are pushing lower, having lost confidence over the weekend with the ASX200 closing 0.2% lower to remain below the 7000 point level at 6971 points, while the Australian dollar is still dicing with the key 70 handle, as the USD proves too strong, finding some support on the open here just above:
Eurostoxx and Wall Street futures are slowly lifting going into the London open, with the S&P500 four hourly chart showing price ready to take out the absolute key overhead resistance area at the 4430 level that needs to be cleared before calling this a proper bottom or price again heads back to the September 2021 lows at the 4250 level:
The economic calendar starts the week with some big releases, namely Euro wide flash 4Q GDP results, then German inflation for January, followed by the Chicago PMI print.