Asian stock markets are mostly in the red in the first session for the trading week as wobbles on Wall Street stall risk sentiment again. US and European stock futures are down with the USD getting strong against the majors as the Australian dollar flopped below the 67 cent level. Oil prices are continuing their falls from with both WTI and Brent crude down more than 1% with the latter about to cross below the $80USD per barrel level while gold is trying to stabilise at the $1980 level after its Friday night push below the $2000USD per ounce level:
Mainland Chinese share markets are falling into the close, with the Shanghai Composite down nearly 1% to cross below the 3300 point barrier at 3268 points while the Hang Seng is following suit, down 1.3% to crack the 20000 level, currently at 19814 points. Japanese stock markets are the best in the region, but again only relatively speaking, with the Nikkei 225 putting in a scratch session to finish at 28582 points as speculation about BOJ interference continues, helping Yen sell off mildly to lift the USDJPY pair back above the 134 level, trying to negate last week’s retracement:
Australian stocks have fallen only a little, starting the trading week with hesitation as the ASX200 closed 0.1% lower to remain well below the 7400 point level at 7322 points. The Australian dollar has fallen back sharply, heading to a new weekly low to be well below the 67 handle going into the London session:
Eurostoxx and US futures are falling sharply heading into the London open with earnings season and this week’s US GDP print dominating risk sentiment as the S&P500 four hourly chart shows price action on a clear downtrend. The psychological level at 4200 points seems well out of reach:
The economic calendar includes the latest German IFO survey then a series of US Treasury auctions to watch out for.