The poor start to the trading week with Asian stocks continues given the selloff on Wall Street overnight as risk markets get spooked by the prospect of a very bearish Federal Reserve as the Jackson Hole conference gets underway soon. The USD is still beating up Euro and Pound Sterling with the former about to break below the 99 level after breaking through parity overnight. Meanwhile oil prices are edging slightly higher with Brent just above the $97USD per barrel level while gold is also trying to clawback its losses with a vain attempt to get back to the $1750USD per ounce level that is yet to find traction:
Mainland Chinese share markets are trying to hold on to their previous gains with the Shanghai Composite treading water at 3274 points going into the close while the Hang Seng Index is still going backwards, down 0.8% and still below the 20,000 point level at 19498 points. Japanese stock markets were the biggest losers with the Nikkei 225 closing 1.2% lower, well below the 29000 point level at 28436 points. Meanwhile the USDJPY pair remains overextended and in a pause, holding just above the 137 handle:
Australian stocks were some of the biggest losers today with the ASX200 closing more than 1% lower and breaking through the 7000 point support level, finishing at 6971 points. The Australian dollar remains under the pump, failing to recover its start of week gains to keep below the 69 cent level against USD:
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