• China again says level of CNY not to blame for trade surplus
• RBA minutes from last meeting suggest further rate rises in store
• Regional stockmarkets fall by around 0.25%
• Japanese corporates continue with JPY repatriation ahead of end-of-financial-year
• European finance ministers deliver no new plan, but say are ready when needed

USD/JPY has drifted lower throughout the session under the weight of further corporate repatriations. The pair opened at 90.45, triggered stops below 90.15 and has traded a 89.99/90.49 range.

The AUD/USD slipped immediately after the RBA minutes but once again has shown the ability to bounce back quickly. The spectre of further rate rises will have more dip-buyers out in force. Range: .9120/53

EUR/USD has again been under-inspiring in a 1.3660/98 range. The lack of anything concrete from the EU finance minister meeting did not affect the market here in Asia. Heavy stops said to be building below 1.3530 but that’s a long way away based on today’s price action.

GBP has again been the weakest of the majors with speculation that some of the big M&A stories like the Prudential/AIG deal are to blame. Cable range, 1.5042/71, EUR/GBP .9070/.9100

Markets: Nikkei -0.2%, HK -0.3%, Kospi flat. Gold slightly higher at $1110/oz.

With most of the major pairings hardly moving in 30 pip ranges it is unusual to see EUR/GBP moving around but that is what it has done in Asia today. It opened at .9090, traded down to .9070 before moving higher again to .9100 at present. A quick look at the daily charts shows a fairly bullish set-up which is consolidating inside a .9050/.9150 range. More range trading looks likely though it is hard to argue against the recent up-trend. More information needed.

No sooner said than done. Bids filled at 90.15 and stops triggered just below. USD/JPY and the JPY crosses have been  under pressure during the Asian trading session for the last week or so and then they tend to rebound when London and NY step in.

• USD/JPY: solid corporate selling between 91.10/20; decent sized bids around 90.15, stops just below this level
• GBP/USD: stops both side of the market, above 1.5090 and below 1.5010. Talk of Sovereign bids 1.4950/60 with more stops below 1.4935/40.
• EUR/USD: heavy stops below 1.3530, Sovereign offers 1.3825/50. Mixed bag in between
• AUD/USD: Still corporate buying interest around .9085/95 with heavy stops below .9050. Mixture of stops and sell orders above .9200.

One of these days we’re going to report that the UK press have something positive to write about the pound. Today is not the day. This article in the UK Telegraph will have dealers in early Europe testing out their ’sell’ button fairly early in the session.

The Nikkei is +0.25%, HK +0.45% and the Kospi is +0.1% on another uninspiring day for the Asian financial markets. The FX markets are in sideways mode and I really cannot see any profit opportunities emerging in the next few hours until Europe joins the fray.

Looks like we might be close to a good buying level for AUD/JPY. AUD/USD dipped down below .9120 after the RBA minutes but the stay down there was short-lived and we are now back at the .9140 opening level. USD/JPY also tried to break lower and trigger stops below 90.15 but the bids there are seemingly quite solid.

The AUD/JPY daily chart tells a slightly different story. Any close today below 83.25 would suggest to me that a short term top is in place and that we should see a gradual move lower towards 81.00.

The Chinese Press have a different take on the value of the Yuan to that of the Western Media but there can be no doubt that the USD/CNY level is still the elephant in the room and unless something is done soon to address the issue, the global imbalances which we are currently experiencing will evolve into much more serious problems.

In a true free market, the USD/CNY rate would not be at 6.82 but would be closer to 4.00. What would happen to China if the USD/CNY rate were to fall dramatically? If we go back to the time of the Plaza Accord in 1985, Japan was in a similar situation to where China is now. The idea of the accord was to weaken the USD (successful) and lower deficits (abject failure). USD/JPY fell from around 230 to 130 in about 3 years and then lost another 50% of its value as it fell to 80 in 1995. This had a terrible effect on the Japanese economy issuing in chronic deflation and leading to the lost economic decade.

Little wonder that China is fighting attempts to strengthen the CNY.

Michael Lewis blames short term greed culture on Wall Street for many of our financial problems. Here he is in an interview with Bloomberg.

The AUD/USD has slipped slightly after the release of minutes from the last RBA meeting. Support around .9100 with heavy stops rumoured below .9050.

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