Stock markets continued to slip in the Asian session following the rout on European shares and the volatility on Wall Street overnight, as the Ukraine crisis builds, keeping oil prices at near decade highs. The usual safe havens are still rising with the USD moving skyward against almost everything except Yen and gold which is now pushing up towards the $1880USD per ounce level, making a near six month high:
Mainland Chinese shares are lifting slightly going into the close with the Shanghai Composite up a little more than 0.1% at 3432 points while the Hang Seng Index remains in reverse mode, down 0.8% to 24343 points. Japanese stock markets are also losing ground with the Nikkei 225 down 0.6% to close at 26903 points, while the USDJPY pair failed to get back on track after a minor bounce overnight, reverting back below its own low moving average on the four hourly chart and staying below the mid 115 level, and the Friday close:
Australian stocks are slowly catching up to the risk off crowd with the ASX200 finishing 0.5% lower at 7206 points while the Australian dollar deflated again post the release of the RBA minutes, hovering just above the 71 handle, and also below the Friday night lows:
Eurostoxx and Wall Street futures are slightly lower as we head into the London open, with the S&P500 four hourly chart showing price still below the previous support/resistance zone and the key psychological 4400 point level:
The economic calendar is packed tonight with UK unemployment, Euro-wide GDP 2Q estimates, the German ZEW survey then the US producer price index. Plus that pesky business in Ukraine.