The European Central Bank (ECB) is expected to begin reducing its bond purchases gradually tampering its stimulation program of Quantitative Easing (QE). Nevertheless, reliable sources tell of the ECB being extremely cautious fearing what will happen if buyers do not appear and rates begin to rise sharply. The difference between the ECB and the Fed […]

Think we should just probably forget the Asian session as all were waiting for the US numbers and hoping for some direction as a result. mixed cash session but we are seeing some positive moves in futures following the US numbers. Europe sees the core perform (CAC and DAX both around 1% better) while the […]

A solid day for the Nikkei today closing up +0.7% but have watched yen trade comfortably with a 110 handle all day. Talk in Japan is very much concentrated on Theresa Mays three day visit and the possible speculation surrounding Japan/UK trade deal. There was a sense that todays session seemed a rebalancing after the […]

Asia benefited from the afternoon bounce in the US markets, with all core performing across the board. The Hang Seng probably saw large cap’s perform on the back of a further gains made in the Yuan’s appreciation. Shanghai finished small down but again in extremely light summer volume. The Nikkei regained much of yesterdays loss […]

Back to geopolitical risks again today after North Korea spooked markets with yet more missile test, but this time flying over Japan. All Asia markets were hit as a result of this, with a rush into safe-haven assets such as gold, oil and treasuries. Interesting that oil traded heavy even as the news hit the […]

When a major market contributor is away the markets are always quiet but today with the UK off, there really was very little action anywhere. China continued its constructive roll with the main Shanghai adding an additional 1%; with the Hang Seng little changed. Australia suffered a touch (-0.6%) with the decline of financials. SENSEX […]

Main talking point out of Asia this morning were the continued strong earnings reports and the subsequent buying conviction. In Hong Kong the Hang Seng gained over 1.2% whilst the domestic Shanghai index rallied near 2% after earnings beat expectations to finish the week well bid. We saw solid gains in Financials, energy, communications and […]

Governments first imposed taxes on alcohol and cigarettes under the claim that they were trying to make people stop for their own good. But as always, as the governments became addicted themselves to the tax revenue. Now they have taken the same theory and applied it to tax soft drinks in Philadelphia naturally because they care […]

We have seen yet another weaker day with the Nikkei declining once more. It had the opportunity to perform but was dragged lower by Industrials, Metals and Manufacturing. The yens strength throughout the week has seen no retracement and remains close the 109 big figure. Core China and Hang Seng both off-set each other with […]

  A quiet and mixed session for Asia as we watched the only real move and that was in the USD. Given all the uncertainty we are seeing a steadier run for the US Dollar, with possibly an arguable underlying bid for gold. The Nikkei did retrace a little of yesterdays decline, closing up +0.25% […]