It was US news again that drove market direction for Asia after we heard late in the US time zone that two additional Republican’s opposed the healthcare bill. The DXY and US index futures were weaker on the news dragging much of Asian equities with them. In China the data for Home Prices released lower […]

The better than expected GDP release we saw from China was unfortunately, only a positive influence for a short period, then profit taking and summer liquidity took over. Shanghai has had a good run so far but having had the Index inclusion and probably suffering from a stronger currency. Second quarter released at 6.9% compared […]

Reflected in Wednesdays late US futures trading Asian indices responded with a strong opening theme. China’s Shanghai found additional support from the Trade data releases much stronger than had been forecast. Exports were released 11.3% with Imports at 17.2% whilst the forecasts had been 8.7% Exports and 13.1% Imports. Shanghai closed +0.65% higher with the […]

Another encouraging session for Asia as the confidence continues, at least until we see something to the contrary later in the week. Many are referencing the bond markets as they watch yields creep higher and the curve start to steepen as an indication that things have finally turned. China’s Shanghai settled small lower but the […]

Merkel chaired the G20 summit and she completely and utterly failed to lead G20 to a successful conclusion. Well of course, Merkel lost control of the streets of Hamburg, which looked more like a civil war challenging her authority. However, Merkel thought she could score a major diplomatic triumph by getting everyone together to gang-up […]

Following on from the weak US session, Asia tended to drift in sympathy. Ahead of the US NFP’s it was always going to be light volume but with G20 also just stated numbers were even lighter. The Shanghai has managed a positive close (+0.17%), but not so for the Hang Seng which closed down -0.5%. […]

QUESTION: Dear Martin: How does this affect cash flow to and within the USA? (China Bond market) Rich ANSWER: It does not alter anything just yet. Most of the capital outflow from China has been its own people trying to get cash out. They were using BitCoin to accomplish that. This is a first step […]

Refreshingly, the markets tended to ignore geopolitical tensions escalating around North Korea after the recent missile test. All core markets returned positive today with China performing for both markets. The Shanghai recovered early weakness and closed up 0.75% on the day, whilst in Hong Kong the large cap’s weighed much on the shine but still […]

Some refreshingly strong data released in both Japan and China has helped market move on a note. We saw the BOJ’s TANKAN (business confidence data) show an improvement from previous quarterly number at +17 (prior was +15). This has helped push the Nikkei a little better but sees the JPY trade weaker now with a […]

Following a weak US session, Asia fell in sympathy with US prices then levelled as China’s core held in well, especially as PBOC set the YUAN rate at 6.7744 – the highest in a while. China’s Manufacturing data helped Shanghai but the core large cap’s suffered as the Hang Seng lost -0.8%. Japan’s CPI and […]