A really mixed end to the trading week with Asian stocks not moving around much at all, inline with the lack of volatility on overnight markets. The USD remains very strong against the majors, with Yen halting its slide due to the higher than expected Japanese inflation print while the Australian dollar remains on the ropes, ready to break below the 69 cent level. Meanwhile oil prices are holding steady despite a small uplift overnight as the short and medium term trend below the $100USD per barrel level for Brent crude continues, while gold is slipping once more having deflated all week as it retraces heavily below the $1800USD per ounce level:
Mainland Chinese share markets are basically unchanged in the afternoon session with the Shanghai Composite down just 0.1% at 3274 points while the Hang Seng Index is up just 0.1%, capping off a poor week and still below the 20,000 point level. Japanese stock markets have had an unsteady ride due to the CPI print with the Nikkei 225 losing around 0.1% to close at 28926 points as the USDJPY pair paused, but remains above the 136 handle:
Australian stocks were dead flat today with the ASX200 about to close just a handful of points higher at 7112 points. The Australian dollar continues to deflate, still barely holding on here as more selling pressure sees it test the 69 cent level against USD:
Eurostoxx and US futures are pulling back again despite some positive moves overnight as we head into the London session, as the S&P500 four hourly futures chart shows price action wanting to test trailing ATR support at the 4250 point level and get back on the trendline from its overbought uptrend on the last two weeks:
The economic calendar concludes the trading week with a whimper, a few Fed banker speeches to look out for and not much else.