The Israel-Iran war continues to dominate risk markets as the TACO-in-Chief threatens to join in with bunker busters over the weekend to eliminate the Iranian nuclear facilities. The USD is gaining strength against most of the undollars with the Australian dollar losing ground on a relatively weak unemployment today, heading back below the 65 cent level.
Oil markets remain understandably high on the continued strikes with Brent crude still above the $76USD per barrel level while gold is also holding on at its recent losses as it stays below the $3400USD per ounce level:
Mainland Chinese share markets are down sharply in afternoon trade as the Shanghai Composite falls more than 0.6% to extend well below the 3400 point level while the Hang Seng Index has also lost significant ground, down 1.8% to 23283 points. Meanwhile Japanese stock markets are playing catchup with the Nikkei 225 down more than 0.7% to 38566 points while trading in the USDPY pair has seen a very small extension above the 145 level:
Australian stocks are again in hesitation mode with the ASX200 closing 0.1% lower at 8523 points while the Australian dollar is losing its prior strong position as it falls below the 65 handle again amid the war tensions:
S&P and Eurostoxx futures are slipping going into the London session with the S&P500 four hourly chart previously showing a desire to remain above the recent highs at the 6000 point level but momentum is rolling over here:
The economic calendar will quieten down a little tonight with the latest BOE meeting while US markets are closed for a holiday.