• RBA Governor Glenn Stevens appeared before a parliamentary committee during the Australian morning, While his comments were not any different to recent RBA statements (China showing signs of recovery, further interest rate cuts not in the offing at present) the market responded with gusto; AUD/USD added a half cent, and more in the afternoon.
  • New Zealand January credit card spending -2.5% m/m (vs. +1.0% prior)
  • New Zealand January credit card spending +0.4% y/y (vs. +4.5% prior)
  • Japan’s economy minister Amari and finance minister Aso had comments reported from a post-cabinet meeting press conference. Follow the links at their names for the comments, but probably the most significant was Aso’s comment that the next BOJ head would not necessarily have to come from the MOF, which was perceived as perhaps support for the very dovish Kazumasa Iwata
  • Overnight Iwata had comments reported in which he defended the idea of buying foreign bonds, saying, amongst other things that doing so could help prevent another global financial crisis
  • China January new home prices +0.8% on year (vs. fall of 0.04% in December), +0.7% on month, and new home prices rose in 53 of 70 cities m/m (vs. 54 in December). The figures were not read decisively in the market, with some saying they gave Beijing reason to tighten restrictions on housing investment, and some said not. Chinese stocks, though, responded net positively to the release.
  • Overnight news had the US/Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University saying it had detected increased activity at a North Korean nuclear test site. The institute did caution, however, there was not enough evidence to suggest a new test may be in the works.

AUD/USD led the charge today, moving sharply higher on Steven’s comments. Selling was found around 1.0290/00 which saw the price retrace to fill the gap and then move toward 1.0320 in the afternoon.

USD/JPY had a rangey sort of day ticking higher to run into sellers around 93.30 in the morning and then back below 93.00. Amari and Aso’s comments had the net effect of USD/JPY slowly gaining back to the day’s highs just above 93.30 before settling 20/30 as I type.

EUR/USD found a slow-burning bid through the session, from around 1.3190 to trade just shy of 1.3320.

GBP/USD put on a very sharp rally indeed after the Tokyo lunch, jumping from around 1.5260 to 1.5319 in just moments. There was no news crossing any of the wire services at all