“The mood seemed anxious” – this was one comment we heard today as prices drifted in Asian light volume. The FED had already put a hawkish tone into the markets following their meeting but then commodity prices aren’t really helping matters either. The ASX has felt the weight of BHP and Rio price action recently […]

Another mixed session for Asia but with so much on the horizon it really should not be such a surprise. The Nikkei is closed and remains so for the balance of the week, Hong Kong and S. Korea are also closed for holidays. The Yen continued to play in the 112’s drifting to the 112.50 […]

Given the long weekend approaching in Japan, there was no let up for the yen weakness today as we broke into the 112’s finally. The Nikkei closed better bid as Exporters again rallied off the back of the declining currency. Many are speculating we breach the 20k again next week, but given so much is […]

After the US closed we saw yet more encouraging results from the likes of Alphabet (Google parent) and Amazon (+4% futures) which has boosted confidence into the Asian session. However, that run did not last long as comments from President Trump concerning North Korea certainly unnerved markets resulting in a mixed close for month end. […]

Two central banks were in play today, but neither moved on rates which was very much expected by the markets. The BOJ did however raise its economic forecast although that did not help support the Nikkei which closed small down at 19,250. The psychological barrier remains the 20k level but as it’s the end of […]

Strong US earnings are matching or indeed breaching expectations and the DOW is reflecting the confidence. Well, that is how the mainstream opinion feels – which is always good to know. Asia followed the momentum with the core reflecting strong daily returns. The Nikkei closed another 1% higher, this time with the Yen continuing to […]

Monday’s Asian trading needed to see Europe’s and the US reaction before getting too carried away and that is probably what we saw today. With all core indices seen making strong progress we saw another good day for the Nikkei (+1.1%), a healthy 1.3% return for the Hang Seng and KOSPI while the Shanghai and […]

Donald Trump’s tweet on Saturday for plans of a “big” tax reform announcement on Wednesday has probably been overshadowed by Sundays event. The first round victory for Macron and going head to head with Le Pen certainly propelled Europe, but may be questionable how much of an effect it had away from President Trumps tweet. […]

Having seen a strong US close on the back of potential tax reforms sooner rather than later, Asia responded with positive returns across the board. Well, actually the Hang Seng closed with a small loss of -0.06% which almost felt like a gain. Obviously, after such a volatile week traders have squared books as much […]

Financials, energy, and resources took Asian markets weaker early in the sessions but had reversed all by the close with only the Nikkei not managing a gain. The Yen lost a lot of momentum today having faded the 108.00 level and late this US evening plays around the 109.40 range. Data released from China has […]