Asian stock markets are all starting the week in poor condition in response to the very weak finish on Wall Street from Friday night with USD reasserting itself against the currency majors. The Australian dollar gapped lower after failing to breach the 68 cent level decisively, hanging on around the mid 67 level while oil prices are still depressed with Brent crude still slumped around the $76USD per barrel level while gold gapped lower this morning after failing to breach the $1800USD per ounce level on Friday night:
Mainland Chinese share markets are sliding going into the close with the Shanghai Composite now below the 3200 point level, down 0.5% at 3190 points while the Hang Seng Index has retraced sharply, taking back its end of week gains to be down 2.1% at 19473 points. Japanese stock markets are meandering along without much buying activity, with the Nikkei 225 down 0.2% at 27842 points while the USDJPY pair has been able to get back above short term resistance at the 137 level in the wake of a stronger USD:
Australian stocks were mid stream in losses with the ASX200 retracing below the 7200 point level, finishing 0.5% lower at 7180 points. The Australian dollar did its usual weekend gap, this time lower as it failed to hold above the 68 handle which is firming as short term resistance overhead:
Eurostoxx and US futures have held on to their Friday night losses without any buying activity evident so far as we head into the London open with the S&P500 four hourly chart showing price action still around last week’s low and of course the very important 4000 point level as the medium term trend remains down:
The economic calendar starts the trading week with the latest UK GDP estimates.