Forex news for Asia trading Friday 2 January 2015
A slow opening in the Asian morning today with New Zealand, Japan and China all still on holiday, but the US dollar was not going to be held back. It strengthened pretty much across the board, helped along against the euro (EUR/USD traded to a 2-year low) by an interview with Mario Draghi to appear in the German financial daily newspaper Handelsblatt: ECB president Draghi says risk of not fulfilling price mandate is higher than 6 months ago
USD/JPY, too, was nearly one-way traffic, up above 120 then quickly to 120.30+, where it consolidates as I write. EUR gained some ground against the yen.
The AUD put up a fight initially, ticking a few points higher in the wake of early data (Australia CoreLogic RP Data House Price Index for December +0.9% m/m). As befitting the relative lower-tier status of this particular data point the pop was short-lived, the aussie soon crumbling 50-odd points from the high (and NZD lower too) as the USD flexed.
Fighting back the dollar, though, oil popped in the early going (wires citing inventory fall and a fire at a key North Dakota gathering and distribution hub). It has, though, dripped back a little from early highs as of writing.
