Asian market preview 10/06/2008

US markets ended the session mixed last night after a huge selloff on Friday. The drop in oil prices from record helped stocks to rally in Dow and S&P500. The improving sales in McDonald's also boosted stocks as it showed that consumers are still spending despite higher oil price. Financial sectors took another hit again though last night after Lehman Bros said that they're going to raise $6 billion after posting a large quarterly loss of $2.8 billion. The interest rate outlook pointed out by several Fed presidents also weigh on stocks as they said that high oil prices have caused inflation to be accelerating at a higher pace and that interest rate hike may be needed sooner rather than later. The Dow ended up by 70.51 pts or 0.58% to 12280.32, S&P500 rose 1.08 pts or 0.08% to 1361.76 while Nasdaq fell 15.10 pts or 0.61% to 2459.46.

Asian markets may open rather flat today but maybe with an upward bias as crude oil price fell more than $4 per barrel last night after Saudi Arabia's oil minister said that last week rally in oil was unjustified. The dollar strengthened against major currencies and that may also provide a boost to Asian markets with a lot of exporters. Oil was recently traded around $134.66ish per barrel, gold traded around $891.70ish and JPY traded around 106.30ish. Nikkei ftures was closed at 14220 in CME compared to the close of 14205 here yesterday.

Kospi may opened flat around 230-231ish today but may rebound from yesterday's losses on a slightly lower crude oil price. The strengthening dollar may also provide support for exporters in South Korea. Bargain hunters may start to kick in to hunt for cheap stocks but financials may still weigh as the US financial sector outlook remains grim.

Hangseng may open lower today as the market may want to play catch up with other markets around the region following yesterday's heavy losses in the region while Hangseng was closed for a holiday. A rise in oil price may weigh on Sinopec and PetroChina and the financial sectors may still also weigh the market down. China mainland markets may still be the major driving factor for Hangseng as it may turn to China to see how deep the market may drop or how strong it may rebound. Hangseng may find a strong support at around 24200 and 24000 and it may find its resistance at 24500 and 24700 today.