EQUITIES: Medium-Term Trend Direction in Eurostoxx 50 Futures Points Up

The medium-term trend direction in Eurostoxx 50 futures is up and short-term weakness is considered corrective. Support to watch is the 50-day EMA, at 5288.25. It has recently been pierced. A clear break of it would highlight a stronger short-term bear threat and suggest scope for a retracement towards 5160.00, the Feb 4 low. The bull trigger is 5516.00, the Mar 3 high. Clearance of this level would resume the uptrend. The trend condition in S&P E-Minis is bearish and the latest recovery appears corrective. MA studies are unchanged - they remain in a bear-mode set-up, highlighting a dominant downtrend. However, Monday’s gains resulted in a breach of the 20-day EMA, at 5803.08. This signals scope for a continuation higher near-term - towards 5864.25, the Jan 13 low. A reversal lower would refocus attention on 5559.75, the Mar 13 low and bear trigger.

• Japan's NIKKEI closed higher by 172.05 pts or +0.46% at 37780.54 and the TOPIX ended 6.64 pts higher or +0.24% at 2797.52.
• Elsewhere, in China the SHANGHAI closed lower by 0.052 pts or 0% at 3369.976 and the HANG SENG ended 561.31 pts lower or -2.35% at 23344.25.
• Across Europe, Germany's DAX trades higher by 62.03 pts or +0.27% at 22912.89, FTSE 100 higher by 32.9 pts or +0.38% at 8670.62, CAC 40 up 48.83 pts or +0.61% at 8071.16 and Euro Stoxx 50 up 24.12 pts or +0.45% at 5439.91.
• Dow Jones mini down 59 pts or -0.14% at 42840, S&P 500 mini down 10 pts or -0.17% at 5805.5, NASDAQ mini down 71 pts or -0.35% at 20303.25.