Japan's Topix and Nikkei both up over 1%
The Japan major indices are off to a good start at the morning close.
- The Japan Topix index is up by 1.1% to 1785.26
- The Japan Nikkei 225 rose by 1.3% to 22,457.74
In other markets at the Japan morning close:
- China's Shanghai composite index is trading down 13.8 points or -0.42%.
- Hong Kongs Hang Seng index is recovering a bit with a gain of 70 points or +0.26%
- Australias S&P/ASX is also higher today with a gain of 33 points or +0.56%
- Spot gold is up $0.56 or +0.4% to $12634
- WTI crude oil is up $.15 or 0.27% at $56.12.
- US yields are little changed with the two-year at 1.806% unchanged. The 10 year yield is at 2.343%, +0.5 basis points. The 30 year bond is at 2.7338%, +0.3%
- Bitcoin extended to another new high at $14,400. The prices since come down back below the 14,000 level and currently trades at $13,922.35 up $575.61.
IN the forex market, the EUR is the strongest currency and the NZD is the weakest but let's face it , the moves are limited. The USD is up modestly vs. all the majors with the exception of the EUR and the CHF (but the declines are very small at -0.05% and -0.03% respectively).
The largest trading range nearly 6 hours into the new trading day is the USDCHF at 30 pips. The EURUSD at 16 pips is the most narrow range. All the major pairs are mired in narrow trading ranges so far. The NZDUSD is down 16 pips and the USDJPY is up 14 pips. The EURJPY is correcting higher after falling yesterday. It is up about 24 pips and trading near the day highs.
The AUDUSD is lower after the Trade balance had a surplus of 105M vs 1400M estimate.
