As you would expect the topic conversation this morning has been the German election and the re-election of Angela Merkel. The highlight was always going to be the percentages of the peripheral parties and that is what we saw. Markel’s CDU party was the big loser yet retained victory for the fourth time. This result […]
The Australian ASX was probably over-sold yesterday and therefore stood as the only core that performed today. Closing up +0.5% was a healthy recovery after yesterdays 1% decline. China’s downgrade put a small dent in confidence for the cash markets which took the Hang Seng down -0.8% while the Shanghai closed with just small loss. […]
After the unchanged call from the Federal Reserve, within hours we hear the same from the Bank of Japan. Asian equity markets drifted broadly lower with profit-taking the main reason behind many of the moves. The Nikkei continues slightly under recent highs with another small gain (+0.2%) to add to recent advances and was helped […]
It is probably no surprise that markets are quiet ahead of the Federal Reserve announcement which is probably about to dictate the next chapter in the storey. Both the Shanghai and Hang Seng closed marginally firmer (+0.3%) on the day but added to the Asian mix is the Bank of Japan’s monetary policy meeting also […]
Tokyo cash played catch-up today, after yesterdays futures increase, with the Nikkei cash closing almost 2% higher on the day. The Yen continues to play around the mid-high 111’s with important month end numbers being watched closely. With September also being quarter end and the FED decision only hours away, this is likely to set […]
After Fridays positive move in western markets and especially US markets hitting yet more record highs, Asia responded with equal optimism. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and the KOPSI performed the best of the crowd with a stunning 1.3% a piece. The Shanghai index traded just 0.3% better but probably reflected the miss in New Home […]
North Korea spooked markets yet again by launching a missile that reported flew over Japan, which came a day after North Korea claimed it would sink Japan. The events were short-livid however and after a brief flight to safety in gold, treasuries and the Yen markets quickly corrected back. The JPY traded into the low […]
We really needed some data to support recent Asian moves and sadly that was not fourth coming today. China’s numbers missed on Investment, Industrial Production and Retail Sales so should be no surprised we reversed recent gains. Investment was expecting a number north of 8 (actually looking for 8.2) but was released at 7.8 for […]
Having seen the US markets close on a high note Asia saw a little nerves appear at the opening but at least we are back to focusing on markets rather than having to price-in geopolitical risks. It was the Nikkei again that returned the best of the core (+0.5%) and this time with the currency […]
As the DXY continued its bounce, so Asian currencies returned their recent gains with the most noticeable move being in the Japanese yen. The currency in late US trading is seen with a 110 handle a decline of 0.6% on the day. The declines were counter-balanced by stocks that all rallied with the Nikkei 1.2% […]
