• Oil steadies after significant falls in last few days, unchanged in Asian trade at $106.25/bbl
  • Gold steadies also at $1456/oz
  • Japanese government revises down economic view
  • Japan March CGPI +2% YoY
  • Australian March consumer confidence +1.2 points
  • USD/CNY set at new record low
  • Regional bourses unchanged

Apart from a brief flurry of activity which saw the JPY crosses spike higher just after the Tokyo open, its been a very quiet session. Most of the major pairings are finishing the session near their NY closing levels.

USD/JPY closed in NY around 83.60 and after a quiet start, it accelerated higher just after the Tokyo open as the JPY was sold across the board. The JPY crosses have since slipped back but USD/JPY has held onto most of its gains. Ranges: USD/JPY 83.48/84.15, EUR/JPY 120.80/121.96, AUD/JPY 87.20/88.20

AUD/USD got close to 1.0500 in early trade when the AUD/JPY buying was at its peak but reports overnight that Asian sovereign players incluing China were selling above 1.0500 helped put a cap in place. Ranges: 1.0426/91

EUR/USD opened around 1.4475 and oscillated 20 pips either side mainly on cross plays. Order boards are reportedly quite empty close to current levels. Traders were also reluctant to take EUR risk on board ahead of French and German inflation indicators. Ranges: EUR/USD 1.4453/94, EUR/CHF 1.2968/1.3010

Cable traded 1.6244/78 with talk of good two-way interest just below the market. Bids at 1.6225 with stops directly below. EUR/GBP is eyeing important technical resistance at .8940, range .8891/.8910.

USD/CHF traded .8959/85.