A busy day in Asia with lots of economic reports confirming the impact the coronavirus is having on world economies, with the RBA all but ruling out negative interest rates as the local appetite for capital expenditure falls sharply. Despite the economic reality, the unrelated share market rally’s continue across the region, save for embattled Hong Kong with the gold price bouncing back alongside a slightly weaker USD.
In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite was looking at another small loss, but is up nearly 0.3% to 2844 points towards the close, while the Hang Seng Index is likely to finish with a scratch session, down 0.2% to 23254 points. This keeps it below previous firm support at the 23300 point level, but just above the long term trendline and a return to the March lows:
Japanese share markets continued their way too fast and too far rally, with the Nikkei 225 surging more than 2% higher to 21916 points, while the USDJPY pair was unable to burst through the 108 handle as it has been threatening too since last night to make a new weekly high, but its close:
The ASX200 had a solid session all day as bank stocks caught up with the rest of the stinking edifice, lifting more than 1,.3% to 5853 points. Meanwhile the Aussie dollar was effectively unchanged against the USD, just maintaining above the 66 handle and yet to rollover from its previously overbought position:
Eurostoxx futures are up 1% or so with S&P futures up half that as the four hourly chart shows the broader stock market now completely unhinged past the 3000 point level where its game on for all the unhedged long positions back to the pre-virus highs:
