Asian stock markets are somewhat mixed going into the last session of the trading week with some bourses replicating the small bounce on Wall Street overnight, but inflation and recession fears are still battling it out. The USD dominates currency markets with Euro looking weak with the Australian dollar also holding at its recent lows at the 68 cent level. Meanwhile oil prices are drifting along with Brent crude hovering just below the $83USD per barrel level as gold is also unable to get out of its depressive funk to remain well below the $1830USD per ounce level:
Mainland Chinese share markets are falling going into the close with the Shanghai Composite down more than 0.6% to 3264 points while the Hang Seng is down more than 1.4%, currently at 20063 points. Japanese stock markets reopened from their holiday with the Nikkei 225 up 1.3% to 27393 points while the USDJPY pair remain steady at just below the 135 level, still off its previous weekly high:
Australian stocks have finally got some traction with the ASX200 about to close 0.3% higher to just push above the 7300 point level at 7304 points. The Australian dollar is finding some support after crashing down to the 68 cent level where its matching the previous weekly low:
Eurostoxx and US futures remain weak but at least haven’t pull back further, with the S&P500 four hourly chart showing price action hovering just above the 4000 point level. The possibility of a bottoming action is firming here but there is a lot of resistance overhead as the downtrend remains dominant:
The economic calendar finishes the trading week with German 4Q GDP and US core PCE and consumer sentiment figures.