Wall Street again finished dead flat overnight as earnings concerns mounted while European shares suffered a similar fate as the USD firmed somewhat against the majors. The Australian dollar remains stuck as punters worry about the next RBA rate rise, holding just above the 67 handle. 10 year US Treasury yields lifted to breach the 3.6% level while the commodity complex still doesn’t like the stronger USD nor concerns about a slowing US economy with oil prices pulling back again, with Brent crude off nearly $2 to the $83USD per barrel level. Gold was unable to rebound and get back above the $2000USD per ounce level to return below in line with other undollars.
Looking at share markets in Asia from yesterday’s session where mainland Chinese share markets failed to gain traction as they head into the close, with the Shanghai Composite selling off sharply to be down over 0.6% to remain well below the 3400 point barrier at 3370 points. Meanwhile the Hang Seng pulled back even further, down more than 1.3% to close at 20367 points. The daily chart is showing resistance building again at the 20500 point level with daily momentum unable to get into a clear overbought mode, with price action now rolling over. The start of year correction may be returning here as the inability to get a substantial lift above that 20500 point level looks like failing:
Japanese stock markets lost their new found confidence with the Nikkei 225 closing nearly 0.2% lower at 28606 points. The previous bounceback looked like a bull trap, but this still may have more traction, taking out the March highs although futures are indicating a slight pullback strong lift on the open. Daily momentum was getting back into overbought conditions with support building at the 27000 point area, but price action looks quite toppy here:
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