Stock markets remain unsteady across Asia with Chinese shares dragging everything down while some stbaility is showing in overseas markets as we head into the mid-week stretch, leading up to tomorrow night’s ECB meeting. Oil is climbing again with Brent crude at $135USD per barrel while commodity currencies are pulling back after being overstretched, with the Australian dollar down below the 73 handle. Meanwhile gold continues to gain, now past the $2050USD per ounce level while Bitcoin and other cryptos had a big breakout in the afternoon, shooting up through the $41K level:
Mainland Chinese shares are taking another dive with the Shanghai Composite currently down 1.4% to 3247 points while the Hang Seng Index is in freefall, down another 25% to 20311 points. Japanese stock markets have comeback though on a strong GDP print and weaker Yen with the Nikkei 225 closing nearly 0.7% higher at 24983 points with the USDJPY pair continuing its bounceback to exceed the previous weekly highs and almost touch the 116 handle in a strong move:
Australian stocks had the best run in the region with the ASX200 finishing 1% higher to get back above the 7000 point level, closing at 7053 points. Meanwhile the Australian dollar is slowing down its previous retreat, still hovering just below the 73 handle but also below key short term support as the London session gets underway:
Eurostoxx and Wall Street futures are holding on – just – as the possibility of stability in stock markets at least rises, with the S&P500 four hourly chart showing price bunching up here at the February lows with support coming up quickly at the 4100 points level:
The economic calendar is relatively quiet tonight with some EIA crude data but not much else as we head into tomorrow night’s ECB decision.