There was plenty to get excited about today, from Asia all the way through the time zones. First up came the Chinese Trade data and the surprise that Imports outpaced Exports giving them a deficit of around $9.1bn for the first time in over three years. However, many see this as a seasonal adjustment and […]

The Nikkei continued its two-day slide ending today with just small -0.2% decline. The JPY had one of its tightest trading ranges in awhile even with geopolitics playing out on its doorstep. The talk around Asia remains focused on the FED and implications upon their (Asia’s) markets as they will be closed upon the NFP […]

The weekend and overnight news surrounded Chinese growth downplay and the North Korean missile tests. The former certainly helped the Shanghai and Hang Seng market with closes of around +0.4% whilst the later hindered the Nikkei closing -0.5%. China Parliament opened at the weekend with the Premier Li calling growth target lower to around 6.5%, […]

Yen weakness continues to push the Nikkei, which helped the exporters but also the inflation outlook appears more positive. Todays CPI release was came in a smidgen better than the zero forecast at 0.1%, with National at 0.4%. In Shanghai and in the Hang Seng we saw declines ahead of Janet Yellen speech later in […]

The euphoria seen in the states followed on into Asia with the Nikkei returning almost 1% in today’s trading. The mood did not want to change from Wednesday, leading traders to think that many have finally thrown in the towel and are accepting that we are moving higher. The strange thing is the odds move […]

It was the speech that most claimed lacked substance that just did exactly what most thought it couldn’t – rally global stock markets. Yes, Japan’s Biz Cap-Ex released at 3.8% compared to the previous 1.3%; that woke markets, then Manufacturing PMI released a smidgen worse but when the JPY started to fall, everyone blamed Trump. […]

  Much of the talk surrounded the 12 days of fresh highs for the US markets, but even so Asia closed mixed with focus well and truly on President Trump’s speech. The congress address will not take place until late in the US evening which will be just ahead of the Asian opening. The safe-haven […]

A few stories over the weekend from a potential vote for Scotland to a Le Pen victory could create a “worse than Lehman” moment. Asian equity mood and markets reacted to nervous weekend press as they watched the GBP lose 0.5% (before a mid-day bounce) and watched most core indices lose close to -1%. The […]

Another lacklustre session for Asian equity markets as we approach both the end of week closely followed by the end of the month. The Nikkei and Hang Seng both lost around 0.6% on the day with a small gain registered for Shanghai, but the big talking point remains the bond market and specifically the west. […]

A little rest and relaxation is a good thing and that is what Asian equity markets gave us today. Having seen the US markets set even more new highs rather than retrace the nerves were truly set after the comments alluding to the March rate rise. All core indices drifted with Nikkei, Shanghai, and Hang […]