Asian share markets have slumped in the response to the whalloping on Wall Street from Friday night as inflation and growth concerns are being kicked around by aggressive rate rises from the central banks. The USD remains strong against all the undollars, with gap downs across the complex and stock futures looking troublesome for the European open as well. Oil prices are drifting sideways, with Brent crude still just above the $120USD per barrel level while gold is trying hard to hold on to its unusual Friday night gains, currently just above the $1860USD per ounce level:
Mainland Chinese share markets are the best of the bunch but still selling off with the Shanghai Composite closing down 1.1% to 3248 points while the Hang Seng Index was hammered, down nearly 3.6%, closing at 21102 points. Meanwhile Japanese stock markets had a similar steep pullback, with the Nikkei 225 index losing 3% to 26987 points while the USDJPY pair is holding on to its gains to remain well above the 134 level:
Australian stocks were closed today for a public holiday and are likely to crack well below the 6900 point level on the open tomorrow while a gap down in the Australian dollar below the 70 cent level was filled this afternoon, but the Pacific Peso is looking very weak here as weekly support has evaporated:
Eurostoxx and Wall Street futures have gapped some 2% lower this morning, with barely any recovery as we head into the European open with the S&P500 four hourly futures chart showing price crushed at the 3900 point level and meeting the May lows (lower horizontal black line). It could be another bath of blood tonight:
The economic calendar starts the week with UK yearly GDP figures then some Fed speeches to keep an ear out for.