Asian stock markets are somewhat mixed with local shares actually outperforming the region as Japanese shares pullback and Chinese bourses lift slightly higher. The overnight rout on Wall Street hasn’t dominated as before, with the bad news = good news meme seemingly broken as traders weigh up the forthcoming US recession. Currency markets are mixed with commodity proxies falling back as the Australian dollar fell below the 70 cent level on an uptick on unemployment while oil prices are edging slightly lower with Brent crude just above the $83USD per barrel level. Gold is trying to get back on track after its recent retracement, holding above the $1900USD per ounce level achieved last week, taking some heat out of what was an unsustainable trendline:
Mainland Chinese share markets are lifting again going into the close with the Shanghai Composite currently 0.3% higher to remain above the 3200 point level while the Hang Seng Index is treading water, currently at 21672 points. Japanese stock markets have pulled back with yet another volatile oscillation with the Nikkei 225 closing 1.5% lower at 26404 points with the USDJPY pair also reverting back to its recent lows that have dominated price action around the 127 to 128 zone:
Australian stocks had a surprise lift with a very solid session despite the falls on Wall Street overnight as the ASX200 finished 0.6% higher at 7437 points. The Australian dollar however continued its overnight rout with a further drop on the uptick in the local unemployment number, now hovering just on the 69 handle around last weeks low:
Eurostoxx and US futures are drifting lower as the S&P500 four hourly chart shows price action still quite depressed after the overnight selloff, holding at the 3940 point level and well below the psychologically important 4000 point zone. Short term momentum is extremely oversold but short and medium term support has evaporated, signalling weakness ahead:
The economic calendar includes the latest ECB minutes and US housing starts plus building permits.