Asian share markets are trying to continue their bullish bent, but there has been some mixed results in China due to the latest manufacturing PMI print. Other stocks in the region remain positive as the USD continues to hand back some progress to other currency pairs with the Australian dollar unable to climb back above the 65 cent level.
Oil prices are holding on to their minor gains with Brent crude holding above the $85USD per barrel level while gold is also staying strong, holding well above the $1940USD per ounce level:
Mainland Chinese share markets are falling going into the close with the Shanghai Composite down 0.5% to 3120 points while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng Index is not doing any better, currently down 0.4% to 18414 points.
Japanese stock markets are doing well to build on their recent rebound, with the Nikkei 225 closing nearly 0.9% higher at 32619 points while the USDJPY continues to decline with a failure to make any new session highs, barely keeping above the 147 level:
Australian stocks were able to claw a positive session, but only just, with the ASX200 closing just 0.1% higher at 7305 points while the Australian dollar was able to hold to its overnight lows just below the 65 handle:
Eurostoxx and S&P futures are up only 0.1% or so with the S&P500 four hourly chart showing a desire to push through resistance at the 4500 point area from last week:
The economic calendar includes German unemployment, core Euro-wide inflation data plus the US Core PCE (personal consumption expenditure) print.