14 Mar 2014
Asia Recap: AUD back at $0.90 as stocks drift south
FXStreet (Bali) - The Asian session developed in a slow motion, with currencies displaying little moves, although the sanguine extended into Asian stocks.
The AUD/USD opened Asia marginally above the important 0.9010/15 support following a sharp reversal off 0.91 on Thursday as flight to safe-haven assets took hold. By the time Tokyo came online, the AUD/USD had had a round trip up towards 0.9040, but several rejections ensued a tight range between 0.9040 and 0.9010. Late in Asia though, sagging equity market across the region caused the rate to lose the 0.9010, with some tepid follow through to 0.90 seen. At present levels, AUD's jobs driven gains from Thursday have been now fully erased.
The USD/JPY also traded top-heavy throughout the session, with the rate barely moving away from a recently found weekly low of 101.54. Buyers were nowhere to be found as the Nikkei 225 (-3.2%) tracked losses from Wall St. and weighed on sentiment. An ascending trendline coming from Feb 4 low is now the next support, with a break lower exposing 101.20 (March 3 low) ahead of 100.80 (Feb 4 low). On a different note, the BoJ released its latest policy minutes from February, with the main take away being that members shared the same line of thinking over the economy and inflation moving towards expected goals.
The rest of currencies traded in familiar tight ranges, with no significant changes ahead of the European open, in which headlines deriving from Ukraine will continue to be monitored very closely. Tension are high as Crimea (still southern Ukrainian state) prepares for an annexation as part of Ukraine to become a Russian state on Sunday's secession referendum, despite the international community has been expressing the vote is unconstitutional.
Main headlines in Asia
China's Premier warns on debt defaults
Decreasing expectations of BOJ easing could slow JPY weakness - Nomura
BoJ minutes: Members agree on economic, inflation outlook
PBOC sets USD/CNY at 6.1346
China senior government source: No need to panic if China growth slows down
Japan Industrial Production (MoM) registered at 3.8% in February
The AUD/USD opened Asia marginally above the important 0.9010/15 support following a sharp reversal off 0.91 on Thursday as flight to safe-haven assets took hold. By the time Tokyo came online, the AUD/USD had had a round trip up towards 0.9040, but several rejections ensued a tight range between 0.9040 and 0.9010. Late in Asia though, sagging equity market across the region caused the rate to lose the 0.9010, with some tepid follow through to 0.90 seen. At present levels, AUD's jobs driven gains from Thursday have been now fully erased.
The USD/JPY also traded top-heavy throughout the session, with the rate barely moving away from a recently found weekly low of 101.54. Buyers were nowhere to be found as the Nikkei 225 (-3.2%) tracked losses from Wall St. and weighed on sentiment. An ascending trendline coming from Feb 4 low is now the next support, with a break lower exposing 101.20 (March 3 low) ahead of 100.80 (Feb 4 low). On a different note, the BoJ released its latest policy minutes from February, with the main take away being that members shared the same line of thinking over the economy and inflation moving towards expected goals.
The rest of currencies traded in familiar tight ranges, with no significant changes ahead of the European open, in which headlines deriving from Ukraine will continue to be monitored very closely. Tension are high as Crimea (still southern Ukrainian state) prepares for an annexation as part of Ukraine to become a Russian state on Sunday's secession referendum, despite the international community has been expressing the vote is unconstitutional.
Main headlines in Asia
China's Premier warns on debt defaults
Decreasing expectations of BOJ easing could slow JPY weakness - Nomura
BoJ minutes: Members agree on economic, inflation outlook
PBOC sets USD/CNY at 6.1346
China senior government source: No need to panic if China growth slows down
Japan Industrial Production (MoM) registered at 3.8% in February