US bond markets and the USD rose again on some interesting secondary data overnight as initial jobless claims came in softer than expected, giving Wall Street a small mid-week boost after flagging momentum. The Australian dollar fell back from its three month high but remains above the 65 cent level while Euro broke below the 1.09 handle.
US bonds bounced back across the curve with 10 year Treasury yields rising through the 4.4% level. Oil prices however were more volatile following their relatively minor bounceback as Brent crude was pushed below the $82USD per barrel level while gold also couldn’t hold on near the $2000USD per ounce level, consolidating at the $1990 level this morning.
Looking at share markets in Asia from yesterday’s session where mainland Chinese share markets opened in the red and stayed there going into the close with the Shanghai Composite down 0.2% to 3060 points while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng Index also put in a flat session, closing at 17728 points.