Chinese share markets continue to rally in anticipation of the Chinese New Year break while other markets are also in a positive mood given the strong lead from Wall Street overnight as reduced volatility in bond and currency markets helps settle nerves. The USD is taking back some lost ground while the Australian dollar fails to continue its modest bounce following the RBA’s recent hold decision as it looks decidedly weak just above the 65 cent level.
Oil prices are slowly lifting higher despite very low volatility with Brent crude just moving beyond the $79USD per barrel level while gold is failing to push higher in Asian trade as it begins to look weak at the $2030USD per ounce level:
Mainland Chinese share markets are still moving higher with the Shanghai Composite up nearly 1.2% to 2862 points while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng Index is going the other way, down 0.9% to 15941 points. Japanese stock markets finally found their confidence with the Nikkei 225 about to close nearly 2% higher at 36800 points while the USDJPY pair is pushing higher after its small retracement at the start of the week, currently just below the mid 148 level:
Australian stocks continued their lift higher with another push above the 7600 point level for the ASX200, up nearly 0.4% at 7645 points while the Australian dollar is dead flat following the recent half hearted bounce above the 65 cent level from this week’s RBA meeting:
S&P and Eurostoxx futures are holding on to their overnight positions going into the London session as the S&P500 four hourly chart shows price action well on trend as it reaches for the 5000 point level:
The economic calendar is relatively quiet tonight with weekly initial jobless claims in the US, plus a host of BOE, ECB and Fed speeches.