Bullish phase under threat as ASX stays range-bound

Stable at 7,237.2 and still trending upwards, Today's session put the brakes on the ongoing uptrend — a quiet day for ASX as it remained range-bound within a 7,218.3 – 7,262 range before closing at 7,237.2.

Uncertainty around ASX is reflected by published market data as Australia Interest Rate came out at 3.6, while a consensus of analysts was expecting 3.6. Australia AIG Manufacturing Index (Mar) released yesterday at 23:00 UTC with a figure of 5.6, while the previous figure was -6.4.

ASX 200 made an initial breakout above its 10 day Simple Moving Average at 7,245.7, a potential indicator of a newly emerging bullish phase. ASX's upper Bollinger Band® is at 7,397.8 and the lower is 7,130.26. ASX is approaching key support, around 35.87 points away from 7,201.33. Dipping below could indicate further losses are ahead while a failure to break below this level is likely to be seen positively by market bulls.

Despite muted price action in ASX, chart analysis indicates it is positioned for a bullish run in the short term.

While ASX was pretty flat today, mixed performances were seen elsewhere as after ending today's session at 28,300, Nikkei lost 500 points and is trading around 27,800. Dow Jones is down to 33,400, losing 200 points, after ending the previous session around 33,600.

Data to be released tomorrow might clear up some of the market fog as Australia Trade Balance (Feb) is expected tomorrow at 01:30 UTC. Australia RBA Financial Stability Review will be released tomorrow at 01:30 UTC.

The index has been trending lower for about 2 months. This year has been a bright one for ASX after trading as low as 6,434.7 and going on to appreciate by 4.17% year to date.