Wall Street records are no longer news and the Asian day is ending with profit taking in Shanghai and a further rise in the Nikkei. Profit-taking on the eve of the inauguration of the Shanghai-Hong Kong link follows the surge in China's index, which is up about 17% this year. The rise of the Nikkei is instead connected to the further rapid depreciation of the yen, which has pitted 116 against the dollar (116,21 in the Japanese early afternoon)
The MSCI Asia APEC 50 regional index fell by 0,3%. Geopolitical problems continue with the flights of Russian bombers over NATO borders and Russian naval maneuvers off the coast of Australia, where the G20 is coming (in Brisbane). But, apart from this show of muscle, Russia is under attack for the commodity trends: the oil price continues to fall and today the level from last night – 74,2 $/b for WTI, a drop of more of two dollars – it is confirmed.
Even the price of gold weakens again (1156 $/ounce) which certainly doesn't please Russia, where the central bank had accumulated gold in the last year (109 tons, 60% of all gold purchased by banks central banks of the world) expecting a collapse of the dollar which did not occur.
The euro weakened slightly to 1,243 against the dollar. Equity futures on London and New York are stable.
