Chinese stocks have stabilised following yesterday’s big crashes with direct intervention by authorities at least keeping mainland bourses somewhat afloat as the Hong Kong Hang Seng teeters on the edge of collapse. Other Asian markets continue to follow the strong lead from Wall Street as bond and FX traders await this week’s ECB meeting. The USD has pulled back some of its big losses against the major currencies but both Euro and Pound Sterling are holding on to their gains although the latter is fading as London opens, while the Australian dollar remains unable to climb back, retreating again back to the 63 handle. Oil prices are dead flat with Brent crude steady above the $92USD per barrel level while gold is trying to hold on to its on Friday night gains, still back at the last week high around the $1650USD per ounce level:
Mainland Chinese share markets have stabilised somewhat with the Shanghai Composite getting back above the 3000 point barrier with a 0.2% lift while the Hang Seng Index is sliding down into the red, currently off 0.1% and still well below the 16000 point level, currently at 15167 points. Japanese stock markets are standing out from the crowd with the Nikkei 225 closing 1% higher to 27265 points, while the USDJPY pair is still trying to stabilise after its epic volatile session on Friday night, just below the 149 level:
Australian stocks lagged somewhat but still put in a positive effort with the ASX200 closing more than 0.3% higher, almost creeping through the 6800 point level to close at 6798 points. The Australian dollar however has remained staunchly opposed to getting back to its Friday night position, still hovering around previous resistance at the 63.30 level:
Eurostoxx and US futures are again drifting sideways as we head into the London session, with the S&P500 four hourly futures chart showing price action pausing at the 3800 area after the big surge on Friday night, still failing to get back above monthly resistance (upper black horizontal line). Medium term and possibly psychological long term resistance at the 4000 point level is a distant memory, but this does set up another attempt as short term momentum remains overbought:
The economic calendar continues with a light session, the German IFO survey the one to watch overnight.