Asian share markets are in diverging in sentiment with Chinese stocks soaring higher while Japanese and local stocks follow the poor lead from Wall Street tonight with mild losses. The USD is failing its fightback against most of the major currency pairs, while the Australian dollar is pushing higher above the 65 cent level to remain at a two week high.
Oil prices are still on trend but are now struggling to hold on to their nascent gains from last week with Brent crude just above the $82USD per barrel level while gold is advancing, heading up through the $2030USD per ounce level:
Mainland and offshore Chinese share markets are no longer being hesitant after their long break with the Shanghai Composite up 1.7% while the Hang Seng is up more than 3% to 16744 points. Japanese stock markets are still pulling back with the Nikkei 225 about to close 0.6% lower at 38113 points while the USDJPY pair is hovering below the 150 handle:
Australian stocks range are falling back sharply due to a big drop in Colesworth with the ASX200 about to close 1% or so lower at 7601 points while the Australian dollar has pushed back to its overnight high above the mid 65 cent level:
S&P and Eurostoxx futures are near their overnight lows and looking weak going into the London session with the S&P500 four hourly chart showing price action well below the 5000 point level:
The economic calendar includes the FOMC minutes.