It was an exceedingly quiet session in Asia today with regional stockmarkets mixed, but less that 1% either way, gold giving up some of its overnight gains and the FX markets trading in 30 pip ranges either side of the NY closing levels.
- Japanese corporate capital spending -21.7% YoY
- Chinese banks told by regulator to guard against excessive risk and ensure that money flows to the real economy
- Don’t forget to get your guess in for the NFP number tonight.
Gold was the big mover overnight, almost touching $1000/oz before settling back a little. There is a lot of chatter in the market that something big is about to happen and that those in the know are putting on the safe-haven trade but this remains pure conjecture at this point. Regional equity markets have had mixed results today after Wall Street broke its sequence of 4 losing days by adding 0.7%.
Tonights NFP number has probably dissuaded many players from trading heavily today and we consequently have had very tight ranges and no major flows. There are a number of AUD/USD option expiries tonight. Order books are light close to the market although there are trailing EUR/GBP stops below .8715 and .8705. Exporter selling interest in USD/JPY is following the market lower, probably an indicator of changing corporate sentiment, and offers are now seen starting at 93.00.
Ranges: EUR/USD 1.4236/64; cable 1.6305/40; USD/JPY 92.52/78; AUD/USD .8380/.8407; EUR/JPY 131.75/132.27.
Markets: Gold -$2 at $992.50/oz. Nikkei -0.5%, HK +0.3%, Shanghai +0.2%, Kospi -0.4%. Brent crude $67.30/bbl.
