Asian stocks are trying to get back into the green zone as the trading week concludes with futures suggesting a small lift as European shares open. The USD is losing a little ground while the Australian dollar is doing well to hold on despite its recent falls to climb above the mid 66 cent level.
Oil prices are slipping again as Brent crude opens just below the $82USD per barrel level while gold is also trying hard to steady itself but is barely moving above the $2340USD per ounce level this afternoon:
Mainland Chinese share markets were again up initially but are moving nowhere near the close with the Shanghai Composite basically unchanged while the Hang Seng Index is up slightly, closing 0.2% higher at 18271 points. Meanwhile Japanese stock markets are rebounding with the Nikkei 225 up more than 1.1% to 38487 points as the USDJPY pair steadied after falling below the 157 level:
Australian stocks had a solid session to finish the week with the ASX200 up nearly 1% to 7701 points while the Australian dollar has held on just below the mid 66 cent level with momentum starting to pick up:
S&P and Eurostoxx futures are both up very slightly as we head into the London session. The S&P500 four hourly chart shows price action having broken well below the 5300 point level which has turned into short term resistance but momentum is starting to slow on the downside:
The economic calendar concludes the trading week with the latest Euro wide core inflation, followed by US PCE price index.