Asian Stocks Talking Points:
- Regional bourses put in a mixed performance
- Chinese stocks were the standout laggards
- The US Dollar slipped a little as overall risk appetite held up
Find out what retail foreign exchange investors make of your favorite currency’s chances right now at the DailyFX Sentiment Page
Asia-Pacific equity put in a mixed performance Thursday ahead of the market-thinning US Thanksgiving break.
Trade tensions with the US seemed to hold back Chinese bourses. The Shanghai Composite was down 0.6% as its close approached, with the Hang Seng off by 0.1%, paring earlier losses. Other mainboards managed to gain though, with the Nikkei 225 up 0.5% and Australia’s ASX 200 adding 0.9%. There seemed to be no one particular story behind the latter’s rise, although the banking sector was in vogue again after a battering earlier this week.
The ASX 200 is still flirting with lows not seen since December 2016 this week. The US holiday may make short-term direction hard to gauge, but at present another move lower looks like the most likely technical prospect.
The US Dollar drifted lower as overall risk appetite seemed to have improved somewhat, while the Euro made some gains as markets hoped for a resolution of Italy’s budgetary impasse with the European Union. USD/JPY was steady after news that Japanese inflation remains mired. The core measure stripping out volatile food and fuel price effects came in at an annualized 1.0% for October. The Bank of Japan’s target of a sustainable rate above 2% remains a distant dream.
Crude oil prices slipped, reportedly as investors looked ahead to what they think will be rising US inventories, and despite the prospect of OPEC supply cuts. Gold prices edged back down as risk appetite held up. Thursday’s economic calendar is light, but will include the European Central Bank’s account of its last monetary policy meeting. Eurozone consumer confidence figures are coming up too, as is the latest snapshot of Switzerland’s industrial output. Mexico’s inflation data re on the docket too.
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--- Written by David Cottle, DailyFX Research
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