FTSE ASFA Australia 200
Over the last week the Australian 200 Index moved away a little from the key 5500 level heading towards a short term resistance level around 5550 before falling sharply back to the 5500 level where it is presently trading. Over the last couple of months the Australia 200 Index has formed an amazing attraction to the key 5500 level as it spent a considerable amount of time trading around it. A couple of weeks ago, the index fell away heavily back down to support around 5400 before returning to the key 5500 level just as quickly, as if gravity had pulled it back. Throughout the last few weeks it has been placing ongoing pressure on the resistance level at 5500 and a few weeks ago it was finally able to move through to a three week high before easing back again to this key level.
Several weeks ago it slowly but surely eased away from its multi-year high achieved near 5560 however the following week it fell reasonably sharply and started looking towards the 5400 level which is near where it currently sits. In doing so it returned to back under the key 5500 level which has provided some reasonable resistance over the last few months.
For the bulk of the last few months, the Australia 200 Index has traded roughly between 5300 and 5500 therefore its return to back under 5500 was not surprising. The index has done well over the last couple of months to move steadily higher from support around 5300 up to beyond 5500, forming higher peaks and higher troughs along the way. The support level at 5300 may also be called upon should the index fall lower and will also likely play a role in providing some buffer from any decline. Since February, most of the trading activity has occured between 5400 and 5500 therefore the former level may also be called upon to prop up prices. The index has done very well over the last couple of years moving from below 4000 to its present trading levels around 5500.
New home sales continue to soar, serving as a key support for Australia’s economic growth. Sales were up 2.9 per cent in April, figures released by the Housing Industry Association today show. Detached house sales rose 1.8 per cent from the previous month while multi-unit sales were up 9.3 per cent. This comes after data on yesterday showed strong growth in housing construction was helping to alleviate the pain from the wind down in mining investment and engineering construction. “The recovery in new home building is a key plank in Australia’s economic growth,” HIA chief economist Harley Dale said. Momentum in new home building activity would carry over into the June quarter, Dr Dale said, while new home sales and building approvals would “provide crucial insight to the growth prospects for the broader economy in 2014-15”.
Australia 200 June 2 at 01:05 GMT 5495 H: 5498 L: 5488
Australia 200 Technical
| S3 | S2 | S1 | R1 | R2 | R3 |
| 5400 | 5300 | 5000 | 5550 | — | — |
During the hours of the Asian trading session on Monday, the Australia 200 Index will be looking again to try to push higher after finding support at 5500. For most of this year the Australia 200 Index has moved well from the lower support level at 5000 up to the multi-year highs above 5500 in the last month or so.
Further levels in both directions:
• Below: 5400, 5300 and 5000.
• Above: 5550.
Economic Releases
- 23:30 (Sun) AU AIG Manufacturing PMI (May)
- 23:50 (Sun) JP Capital Spending (Q1)
- 00:30 AU TD-MI Inflation Gauge (May)
- 01:30 AU Building approvals (Apr)
- 01:30 AU Company Operating Profit (Q1)
- 01:30 AU Inventories (Q1)
- 05:00 JP Vehicle Sales (May)
- 08:00 EU Manufacturing PMI (May)
- 08:30 UK BoE – Mortgage Approvals (Apr)
- 08:30 UK BoE – Net Consumer Credit (Apr)
- 08:30 UK BoE – Secured Lending (Apr)
- 08:30 UK CIPS / Markit Manufacturing PMI (May)
- 08:30 UK M4 Money Supply (Apr)
- 09:00 EU to release Country-Specific recommendations in Brussels
- 13:45 US Manufacturing PMI (May)
- 14:00 US Construction Spending (Apr)
- 14:00 US ISM Manufacturing (May)
- JP World Economic Forum Japan meeting (to 3rd)