Asian stock markets are all the in the green given the solid bounceback on Wall Street overnight despite rising concerns about Chinese COVID. The USD is holding steady against the minor losses against the currency majors from overnight with Euro still hovering around the 1.03 level while the Australian dollar has pulled back slightly in the wake of the RBNZ’s 75bps rate rise today. Oil prices remain depressed with Brent crude holding on just above the $88USD per barrel level while gold is holding in line with other majors, drifting lower at the $1738USD per ounce level after recently breaking short term support:
Mainland Chinese share markets are doing better after the lunch break with the Shanghai Composite up slightly going into the close at 3098 points while the Hang Seng Index is bouncing back somewhat, currently up 1% to 17613 points. Japanese stock markets are having yet another holiday, while the USDJPY pair has stayed just above the 141 handle, still in pause mode after its recent breakout:
Australian stocks are a very solid session indeed, building on the previous liftoff week with the ASX200 closing nearly 0.7% higher at 7231 points. The Australian dollar remains somewhat depressed and still below last week’s intrasession low at just above the 66 handle, with four hourly momentum still quite negative here, ready to possibly extend further below:
Eurostoxx and US futures are drifting sideways but holding on to their overnight gains with the S&P500 four hourly chart showing price action still above the 4000 point level as support seems firm at the 3950 point level below:
The economic calendar will focus squarely on the release of the latest FOMC minutes late tomorrow morning, but before that we get a slew of flash PMI prints across Europe and the UK, plus the latest US durable goods order print..