Asian share markets are in a very mixed mood, reflecting the overnight performance across both sides of the Atlantic as tech stocks keep Wall Street elevated. Locally, a spicier than expected inflation print has seen the Australian dollar outperform while local stocks stumbled as interest rate expectations are re-jigged. The other majors remain under the pump of the USD with commodity markets still fairly lacklustre.
Oil prices are still holding on without much intrasession volatility with Brent crude still around the $85USD per barrel level while gold continues to struggling following its recent reversal, rolling over in afternoon trade towards the $2310USD per ounce level:
Mainland Chinese share markets are coming back after the lunch break with the Shanghai Composite up nearly 0.3% but still well below the 3000 point barrier while the Hang Seng Index is also climbing slightly, up 0.2% to 18100 points. Meanwhile Japanese stock markets are continuing their surge with the Nikkei 225 up more than 1.2% to 39679 points as the USDJPY pair consolidates above the 159 level and looks like breaking out very soon above the 160 level:
Australian stocks were the odd ones out in the region with the ASX200 losing nearly 0.9% to 7770 points on the back of the CPI print while the Australian dollar went the other way for a new weekly high, almost matching the previous weekly high below the 67 cent level:
S&P and Eurostoxx futures are lifting slightly as we head into the London session with the S&P500 four hourly chart showing price action wanting to bounce off the 5500 point level which must hold as support:
The economic calendar includes another German consumer confidence measure, then US new home sales.