Asian stocks are responding positively to the overnight solid moves on Wall Street and on European bourses with the ASX200 actually leading the way in today’s session. The USD remains on the ropes after falling sharply against the majors on Friday night but is seeing a slight blip higher despite some dovish cooing emanating from the Federal Reserve while the RBA is still scratching its head which is pushing the Australian dollar lower as it fails to get back above the 65 cent level.
Oil markets are failing to hold on to their recent breakout with Brent crude heading below the $69USD per barrel level while gold has been able to hold onto its Friday night reversal gains, but slipping a little to just below the $3370USD per ounce level as short term momentum wanes:
Mainland Chinese share markets are up strongly going into the close with the Shanghai Composite pushing through the 3600 point level while the Hang Seng Index has put on nearly 0.8% to close at 24918 points. Japanese stock markets are finally putting some runs on the board with the Nikkei 225 closing 0.6% higher at 40549 points while the USDPY pair has moved up slightly after finding some support at the 147 level following its big slump on Friday night:
Australian stocks were the best in the region for a change, with the ASX200 closing more than 1.2% higher at 8770 points while the Australian dollar has deflated slightly after failing to get back to the 65 cent level against USD:
S&P and Eurostoxx futures are up going into the London session with the S&P500 four hourly chart showing the market rebounding from its extremely oversold position after Friday night’s rout so watch for a continued rally here on hopium:
The economic calendar continues tonight with the latest trade figures from the US, plus the ISM Services PMI survey.