Asian stock markets are broadly positive in response to the continued bounceback on Wall Street overnight with traders trying to look through the US Thanksgiving and Black Friday shenanigans. The USD remains weak against the currency majors from overnight where a softer than expected PMI print saw Euro and others surge against King Dollar, the former pushing up through the 1.03 level while the Australian dollar has extended its gains above the 67 handle. Oil prices remain depressed with Brent crude holding on just below the $85USD per barrel level while gold is playing catchup after falling behind the other undollars overnight, now pushing higher at the $1755USD per ounce level:
Mainland Chinese share markets are falling further after the lunch break with the Shanghai Composite down 0.2% going into the close at 3090 points while the Hang Seng Index is bouncing back somewhat, currently up 0.6% to 17623 points. Japanese stock markets return from their mid week holiday with the Nikkei 225 closing 1% higher at 28403 points while the USDJPY pair has stayed depressed below the 139 handle, still in sell mode after last night’s USD turnaround:
Australian stocks floated into a scratch session by the close with the ASX200 closing just 0.1% higher at 7241 points. The Australian dollar put on a few more points following its overnight breakout above the 67 handle, extending to the mid level but pausing here with four hourly momentum nicely overbought but price still short of last weeks high:
Eurostoxx and US futures are drifting up and extending their overnight gains with the S&P500 four hourly chart showing price action building above the 4000 point level as support seems firm at the 3950 point level below:
The economic calendar includes the latest German IFO survey and ECB policy minutes.