A very mixed start for the trading week on Asian share markets following Friday night’s US non-farm payroll AKA unemployment print. The defensive USD is keeping Euro down while the Australian dollar remains quite depressed at the 68 cent level. Oil prices are pulling back slightly, with Brent crude hovering at the $105USD per barrel level, while gold is still treading water precariously just above the $1740USD per ounce level:
Mainland Chinese share markets started lower at the open and have continued to retrace sharply going into the close with the Shanghai Composite about to close 1.6% lower at 3302 points while the Hang Seng Index is slumping even faster, down 3% to 21048 points. Japanese stock markets however have bounced back the hardest, with the Nikkei 225 index closing 1.5% higher at 26855 points while the USDJPY pair has broken out to a new weekly high above the 137 handle in a strong surge this afternoon:
Australian stocks had a bad start to the trading week, with the ASX200 finishing 1% lower at 6605 points. The Australian dollar has also retraced throughout the session, with a return back to the 68 handle as the overall trend remains down:
