As you probably expected, Asia opened firmer following the strong US performance. For the majority this remained the trend for the day but not for the Nikkei. Having seen 16 positive closes in a row, today was time for a rest. We saw some profit-taking and a reversal after the strong open, eventually drifting close […]

  Having just seen an uncertain US session, Asia was a little confused which way to take markets from the opening bell. Still, it appears as though Shanghai and Hang Seng want to cancel each other out which a very much mixed session. The Nikkei had another strong day resulting in 16 days of consecutive […]

In Japan Shinzo Abe is back in, Czech Republic has taken a step to the right, Catalonian crisis is back in the headline (if it were ever out in the past few weeks), China unemployment hits a low and even an almost political edge from Janet Yellen on Friday evening has given us food for […]

Even though we saw yet another strong day for US markets, for Asia it was more steady as she goes rather than running away with itself. With the Chinese Party conference just underway, many will be looking for headlines to set the next stage of the markets. Currency will set the agenda with stocks following […]

Having seen yet another US session, Asian markets traded firm and steady. We are on the eve of the Chinese Communist Party meeting which markets are eagerly awaiting any news and views. The Yuan continues to trade around years best levels (6.60) having spent the first six months of 2017 playing around 6.90 levels. The […]

The big event this week will be China which commences its 19th National Congress of the Communist Party on Wednesday. It is little surprise that the Shanghai stock market gave up early gains to close a fraction weaker. The initial rally was based on the expected strong CPI release (+1.6%), but was overshadowed by the […]

QUESTION: Marty; There is talk that Britain will join NAFTA rather than the EU. Does that make sense? What do you think? ANSWER: The EU is in a death spiral. Every law they pass is to preserve their own power – not for the good of the people or Europe. Once again, the government solution always […]

The end of a holiday week for markets in Asia. We have to wait until Monday to see mainland China, South Korea and Hong Kong’s reaction to the US NFP’s release and also the reaction to the turn of the US Dollar Index. Markets that were opened were seeing futures initial response trading firmer as […]

Key Shanghai Exchange and South Korean markets remain closed and was joined today by the Hang Seng market too. most of the focus centred upon Australia and the ASX and currency. Weaker than expected Sales data hit confidence and pushed the A$ through the recent 0.78 level to fall 1% on the day. With the […]

Even in Asia the markets appear to be lacking in commitment, despite price increases day after day. The Nikkei gave-up the mornings gains, but still managed a small uptick for the close. For the third day in a row, the Yen rejects playing for long with a  113 handle, reflecting continued uncertainty. That was not the case for the Hang […]