Asian share markets have had a tepid response to the bounces on overseas markets from Friday night, with Chinese shares still spooked by the latest retail data showing the middle kingdom is slowing down appreciably. Currency markets remain constrained by a very strong USD with the Australian dollar reverting from its tiny fightback on Friday night, with oil markets also declining with some falls back to the Friday night starting position. Gold is failing to stabilise as it continues to look weak on all the charts, about to cross below the key $1800USD per ounce level next:
Mainland Chinese share markets are playing wobbly following the latest retail sales print with the Shanghai Composite currently down 0.3% to 3077 points while the Hang Seng Index has flat lined going into the close, currently at 19909 points. Japanese stock markets are doing much better with the Nikkei up nearly 0.6% to 26580 points while the USDJPY pair has pulled back from its small Friday bounce, now back below the 129 handle:
Australian stocks had a good session with the ASX200 up nearly 0.4% to 7100 points. Meanwhile the Australian dollar slumped on the open following the weekend gap, taking back all of Friday nights little bounce as it still fails to find a bottom here after making a new monthly low:
Eurostoxx and Wall Street futures are vacillating as we head into the European open with the S&P500 daily chart showing price wanting to get back above the 4000 point level but losing momentum following the Friday night bounce:
The economic calendar is very light with some Fed speeches and not much else.