After a solid start to the trading week, Asian share markets are getting wobbly as risk sentiment reverses yet again on Wall Street overnight. The USD is still in mild retreat mode from its own reversal with Euro remaining above the 1.01 handle while the Australian dollar firms above the 68 level as today’s RBA minutes spook the dovish mood on the Pacific Peso. Oil prices are starting to move higher after stabilising overnight with Brent crude pushing above the $106USD per barrel level, while gold is unable to to find a bottom here with price still hovering around the $1708USD per ounce level:
Mainland Chinese share markets are recovering post the lunch break with the Shanghai Composite about to post a scratch session as a result, currently at 3279 points while the Hang Seng Index has retraced more sharply, down 1% to be at 20650 points. Japanese stock markets returned from their long weekend with the Nikkei 225 the odd one out by advancing some 0.7% to be just shy of the 27000 point level while the USDJPY pair has continued its Friday led deflationary trend to retreat just below the 138 handle:
Australian stocks have taken back about half of their previous gains, with the ASX200 finishing 0.5% lower to remain above the 6600 point level, closing at 6649 points. The Australian dollar was able to move higher despite a small retracement overnight, heading up on the very hawkish RBA minutes released this afternoon with the mid 68 level taken out that almost equates to a new weekly high:
