Despite early Friday weakness, EUROSTOXX 50 futures maintain a firmer tone this week following the recent recovery from 3251.00, Oct 13 low. The move higher has resulted in a break of the 50-day EMA and resistance at 3492.00, the Oct 6 high and a bull trigger. Initial firm support is at 3352.00, the Oct 14 low. Similarly, recent weakness in S&P E-Minis has done little to damage the firmer short-term tone. A bullish theme follows last week’s reversal from 3502.00, the Oct 13 low. The recovery suggests the contract has entered a corrective phase and if correct, this is allowing an oversold trend condition to unwind. Attention is on resistance at 3820.00, the Oct 5 high and a bull trigger. Key support is unchanged at 3502.00. Initial support is at 3590.50, the Oct 17 low.

• Japan's NIKKEI closed lower by 116.38 pts or -0.43% at 26890.58 and the TOPIX ended 13.43 pts lower or -0.71% at 1881.98.
• Elsewhere, in China the SHANGHAI closed higher by 3.879 pts or +0.13% at 3038.929 and the HANG SENG ended 69.1 pts lower or -0.42% at 16211.12.
• Across Europe, Germany's DAX trades lower by 198.23 pts or -1.55% at 12566.71, FTSE 100 lower by 45.62 pts or -0.66% at 6898.82, CAC 40 down 103.49 pts or -1.7% at 5982.96 and Euro Stoxx 50 down 56.09 pts or -1.61% at 3436.41.
• Dow Jones mini down 117 pts or -0.39% at 30247, S&P 500 mini down 19.25 pts or -0.52% at 3657, NASDAQ mini down 85 pts or -0.77% at 11011.25.