Green across the board for Asian stocks today despite the poor lead from Wall Street overnight, basically on speculation that the US Federal Reserve is likely to ease in September against dwindling domestic conditions in the US economy. The USD lost further ground against the majors particularly Kiwi but also the Australian dollar which has almost broken above the 65 cent level in afternoon trade.
Oil markets are failing to hold on to their recent breakout with Brent crude almost heading below the $68USD per barrel level while gold has been able to hold onto its Friday night reversal gains, but slipping a little to just aboove the $3370USD per ounce level as short term momentum wanes:
Mainland Chinese share markets are up slightly going into the close with the Shanghai Composite remaining above the 3600 point level while the Hang Seng Index has only put on 0.2% or so to just get above 25000 points. Japanese stock markets are doing better with the Nikkei 225 closing 0.4% higher at 40749 points while the USDPY pair has failed to hold on to its tentative overnight high as it rolls over down to the 147 level again:
Australian stocks are the best in the region again, with the ASX200 closing more than 0.6% higher at 8826 points while the Australian dollar has nearly broken through 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 European retail sales figures, then some private oil data from the US.