Asian stock markets are taking the bullish cue from Wall Street on Friday night but have to navigate some Chinese volatiltiy that actually started on Saturday with some mixed messaging around stimulus measures from the PBOC. Not helping matters particularly in currency land is more saber rattling by the Chinese Navy around Taiwan with the USD firming against most of the majors while the Australian dollar gapped slightly lower over the weekend but is still off its recent low above the 67 cent level.
Oil futures have not yet reduced in volatility as Brent crude fails to steady under the $80USD per barrel level while gold is making a stronger comeback after bouncing off the $2600USD per ounce level as it almost matches its previous highs:
Mainland Chinese share markets are still quite volatile with a break at the start before the Shanghai Composite lifted nearly 1.5% to just below the 3300 point barrier while the Hang Seng Index is pulling back somewhat, off by more than 0.6% to 21114 points. Meanwhile Japanese stock markets are having yet another holiday while trading in the USDPY pair muted as it slowly lifts above the 149 handle:
Australian stocks are putting on a strong first session for the trading week with the ASX200 up 0.5% to 8252 points while the Australian dollar has gapped slightly lower from the weekend but is still managing to stay around the mid 67 cent level this afternoon:
S&P and Eurostoxx futures are flat going into the London session with the S&P500 four hourly chart showing momentum still slightly overbought but some overhead resistance forming:
The economic calendar is very quiet with closed US markets tonight.