- Gold rallies 1.5% in Asia, up to $1164/oz from $1150
- EUR/USD rallies strongly as option market tries to cover exposure from Friday night option plays
- Chinese copper exports jump by 73% in October
- Thai economy shrinks by 2.8%, less than expected
- Fed’s Bullard sees the USD still as the world’s reserve currency
- Japanese financial markets closed for Labour Thanksgiving Holiday
- HK gains 0.5% but Kospi loses about same
The first move was down in early Asian trade as traders sold JPY crosses on the back of continued Yuan-revaluation speculation. This move however was short-lived as EUR/USD shorts started to cover and this has gone on for most of the session.
EUR/USD fell to 1.4834 and EUR/JPY to 131.80 but when the cross couldn’t breach the Friday night low, the short-covering took over in earnest. The strong rise in the gold price merely added fuel to the fire. The high so far in the EUR/USD has been 1.4948 and in the cross, 132.85. Trailing stops have been regularly triggered in both pairs throughout the day.
The AUD/USD also fell early on AUD/JPY selling but when the Bank of China was spotted buying NZD/USD, this led to short covering in both these pairs also. The range in the AUD/USD has been .9113/.9206 and dealers say that trading conditions are getting thinner.
Cable has been fairly quiet which has allowed EUR/GBP to make more decent gains. Range in cable 1.6475/1.6536 and in EUR/GBP .8998/.9038.
USD/JPY has been again listless in a 20 pip range, 88.82/89.02.
Markets: Gold +1.5%, from $1150 to $1164/oz, oil +1% to $78.30. HK +0.5%, Kospi -0.4%, Sydney +0.6%.
