Asian share markets are taking a pause despite a record high on Wall Street overnight as Japanese markets take a long weekend after they too made a record high. Local issues were up initially but have pared these gains in afternoon trade while Chinese stocks are flat. The USD is still pulling back 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 $83USD per barrel level while gold wants to advance through the $2030USD per ounce level but is hitting short term resistance:
Mainland and offshore Chinese share markets are taking a pause in their post break rally with the Shanghai Composite up just 0.2% while the Hang Seng is down nearly 0.3% to 16702 points. Japanese stock markets are closed while the USDJPY pair is predictably unchanged, just hovering above the 150 handle:
Australian stocks were up initially but are flat in the afternoon trade with the ASX200 about to close just 0.3% higher and remain above the 7600 point level while the Australian dollar has lifted slightly to remain above the mid 65 cent level:
S&P and Eurostoxx futures are hold on to their overnight record gains going into the London session with the S&P500 four hourly chart showing price action wanting to push through the 5100 point level next:
The economic calendar finishes the week with the final German GDP 4Q print and IFO business survey.