Not a good start to the trading week with most Asian stock markets in the red as a slew of macro events and central bank speeches along with the restart of the US federal government is clouding the short term outlook. Currency markets appear nonchalant however with the Australian dollar holding somewhat steady but looking carefully at the latest Chinese economic releases while tension between China and Japan is keeping Yen lower.
Oil markets are steady but still looking very weak amid the risk off mood with Brent crude returning above the $63USD per barrel level while gold is slowly losing steam again, falling below the $4070USD per ounce level:
Mainland Chinese share markets fell back into the close with the Shanghai Composite down 0.6% to 3966 points while the Hang Seng Index is down more than 1%, currently at 26265 points. Japanese stock markets are off only slightly however with the Nikkei 225 down more than 0.2% to almost retreat below the 50000 point level while the USDPY pair has lifted slightly above the mid 154 handle as it tries to build momentum from last week:
Australian stocks were the odds one out and finished in the green with the ASX200 up 1 point or so at 8636 points while the Australian dollar has maintained its position above the 65 cent level against USD, but only just:
S&P and Eurostoxx futures are steady but starting to move higher going into the London session despite the poor momentum here in Asia with the S&P500 four hourly chart showing the market trying to stabilse around the 6800 point level – or creating a right hand shoulder for a bearish pattern?
The economic calendar starts the trading week slowly with a few Treasury auctions and Fed speeches – note that the September NFP data is coming out on Thursday night.