Summary:

  • Asian bourses mixed on weaker trade data from China
  • CHNComp remains in an upward trend though, looking forward to 11500 pts.
  • Bitcoin continues a hunt for fresh all time highs

Trade data from the Chinese economy for July is one of the most important reports this week. A recovery in China after a weaker 2016 is one of the pillars of growth of the global economy and plays a vital role in supporting growth in Europe. The trade data for July was not awful as:

  • trade surplus increased to $46.74 billion in July from 42.75 in June – the highest level since January
  • exports still rose, this time by 6% y/y, the third best rate this year
  • imports continued to expand at a double digit pace (10.9%) suggesting a robust demand for exports from other countries

However, trade volumes, while decent, missed expectations substantially. It’s worth underscoring that although exports is far higher than last year it’s still below levels from 2015. July’s exports was at $193.65 billion – $1.45 billion down from July 2015. What is more in a January – July period the Chinese exports stood at $1240.9 billion vs $1268.2 billion two years ago. This is partly an effect of a stronger US dollar but it also shows that China is merely recovering from 2016 slump rather than experiencing a boom of its own.

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China’s CHNComp remains in a strong upward trend. Source: xStation5 

Either way investors were unimpressed by the data and that left equity markets in Asia stuck. Having said that, markets like Hang Seng China Enterprises (CHNComp on xStation platform) remain in a strong upward trend and in this very case the market looks set for a test of an upper limit of the channel (11500 level) -at least technically.

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Bitcoin (BTCUSD) price keeps rising after a break of $3000 level. Source: xStation5 

While traditional markets were broadly unchanged in Asia, Bitcoin (BTCUSD on xStation platform) price surged again. Investors seem to enjoy an undisrupted functioning of the block chain after a fork (a broader analysis has been presented here yesterday) and there is no obvious barrier on the chart after breaking the $3000 level.