Macro Afternoon

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A solid start to the trading week for Asian share markets following the big lead from Wall Street and European shares on Friday night as risk sentiment reverses on the back of good US data. The USD is still in retreat mode from its own reversal with Euro back above the 1.01 handle while the Australian dollar firms above the 68 level in anticipation of tomorrow’s RBA minutes. Oil prices are starting to move higher after stabilising on Friday night with Brent crude pushing above the $102USD per barrel level, while gold is trying desperately to find a bottom here with some stability forming up around the $1717USD per ounce level:

Mainland Chinese share markets are lifting strongly going into the close with the Shanghai Composite currently up 1.4% to 3271 points while the Hang Seng Index has surged more than 2.5%, currently at 20835 points. Japanese stock markets are of course closed for yet another holiday, while the USDJPY pair has stayed at its Friday level due to a lack of volume, just above the 138 handle:

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Australian stocks are coming back after their bad run on Friday in the wake of the Chinese GDP print, with the ASX200 finishing 1% higher to advance further above the 6600 point level, closing at 6672 points. The Australian dollar was able to gap a little higher this morning after the weekend close but has now retraced back below the 68 level and could be already retracing back to its multi month downtrend:

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