Asian Market Preview 08/04/2008

US markets ended the session mixed overnight after opened higher on speculation Washington Mutual Inc. will get a $5 billion investment. Markets played around its highs for most of the days but finally gave up most of their gains, paced by a statement released by Henry Paulson saying that the economy has slowed down dramatically and risks remain in housing and capital markets. Investors have also taken their money off the table for now, waiting for the earnings season to kick off. Alcoa, which started the earnings season missed analysts' estimate and AMD also trailed analysts' estimate and planned to cut 10% jobs. Dow Jones rose 3.01 pts or 0.02% to 12612.43 after rising more than 120 pts earlier, S&P500 rose 2.14 pts or 0.16% to 1372.54 while Nasdaq slipped 6.15 pts or 0.26% to 2364.83.

Asian markets may opened flat today following the flat close over in the US. Higher oil and commodity prices may weigh on the market today and with lack of major economic news from the US, Asian markets may take a breather today after running a marathon for the past week but there's still room for markets to rise. Crude oil rose yovernight and was recently traded around $108.80ish per barrel, gold traded around $920ish and JPY weakened against US$ and was traded around 102.40ish. Mining stocks may dominate most Asian markets today after metal prices rose overnight. Nikkei futures was closed at 13490 in CME compared to the close of 13545 here yesterday.

The Kospi may opened flat today around 229ish but market may still have some steam to rise higher today. With the lack of major economy news, investors may go into profit taking session ahead of the holiday for South Korea on the 9th. Earnings for companies in the country may be the driving factor for the market's movement today.

Hangseng may opened around 24600ish and may have a consolidation after having a nice rally the past week. However, Hangseng may rise higher today too as the market is still considered to be quite cheap compared to the start of the year. Support for Hangseng is around 24400 and if Hangseng is able to breached that, it may go down further at 24200 or even 24000ish. Resistance is around 24800ish and if it can breached that level, it may try 25000ish.