• Gold reached a new record high at $1213.5/oz
  • Regional bourses up over 1% on average although the Nikkei lags again
  • Japan’s November monetary base +3.8% YoY
  • BoJ to continue to provide increased market funds
  • BoJ’s Suda says Yen’s instability can hurt economy
  • ETS fails raising prospect of general election in Australia

Generally a quiet day which has only been noticeable for the fact that Gold has continued to rise but this time the USD has also risen in Asia, albeit very mildly. The NY session closed with the USD on or close to its lows against all the majors and Asia has done it’s usual thing of consolidating overnight moves and booking some profits.

USD/JPY and the JPY-crosses have been moderately well bid throughout the session with cross buying into the fix helping sentiment. Many dealers are now afraid of further BoJ/MoF action or intervention and therefore have been leaving the market alone or have preferred to sit short JPY on the day. USD/JPY range 86.60/88.15.

EUR/USD has been quiet in a 30 pip range; 1.5074/1.5103 and similarly for cable, 1.6590/1.6623.

The AUD/USD range has also been tight, .9240/80 and the prospect of the RBA again selling at .9325 has dealers quite happy to sell rallies with a s/l above last weeks high.

Markets: Nikkei flat; Sydney +1%, HK +1.6%, Kospi +1.5%