Forex headlines for Asia-Pacific trading Sept 14, 2014:
- Soft Chinese data weighs along with worries that officials won’t react
- Swedish politics are in turmoil
- UK Rightmove Sept house price index +7.9% y/y vs +5.3% prior
- Australian August new motor vehicle sales fall 1.8%
- Abe adviser says economy must be stronger to move ahead with planned tax hike
- Some Hilsen-speak
- Gold up $4 to $1234
- WTI crude down $1.03 to $91.24
- Hang Seng -0.8%
- Shanghai Comp -0.2%
- JPY leads, AUD lags
Japan was closed for a holiday but trading was decent. It was the first week in three where the pound didn’t have a big move to start the week. The initial reaction in cable was tepid after some mixed polls but the pound eventually began a slide to the downside and is 30 pips lower to 1.6239.
The Australian dollar was a bit more decisive right off the mark. It opened lower and has stayed there. So far two runs at breaking below 0.9000 have failed but the latest one touched the big figure. Watch for stops on a break.
The yen is a bit stronger on Chinese worries and generalized risk aversion. The pair has slipped down to 107.18 from 107.37.
In general, the shape of trading is always the same as fear from China begins to percolate. Europe tends to latch on to the theme from Asia but by the time the stories get to the US, they tend to get stale and American traders begin to focus on the strength in the domestic economy and the trade begins to reverse.
