- Regional stockmarkets rise after 2% rally on Wall Street, post-GDP numbers
- Geithner follows familiar line, growth encouraging but early days
- Japan’s jobless rate fell to 5.3% in September from 5.5% the previous month
- Australian private sector credit falls 0.2% in September
- Japan’s manufacturing PMI falls but still strong
- Japan’s core CPI -2.3% against expectations of -2.4%
- BoJ to unwind some stimulus measures
All the excitement happened overnight and the Asian session has consolidated these gains in fairly quiet trade.
Despite a raft of economic data, the JPY has been fairly quiet but has nonetheless surprised many traders by slowly drifting lower throughout the day. Asian traders remain the most sceptical regarding continued global growth and Japanese corporate flows have weighed on the pair through the day. End of month flows have also contributed. USD/JPY closed in NY at 91.50 and has traded a 91.09/58 range in Asia. JPY crosses are also mildly lower on the session.
AUD/USD closed in NY at .9160 and has traded .9135/75 today. There is talk of some significant end-of-month flows (usually related to the equity markets) in AUD at the London fix but I have no information as to whether this is buying or selling. Technical resistance at .9180 (61.8% of .9325/.8940) continues to stall gains and stops are expected just above. Buying interest is reported around .9100.
EUR/USD has been similarly uninspired in a 1.4820/58 range. Cable has traded 1.6542/80. End of month flows particularly at the European fixes are the most likely source of volatility today.
Markets: Nikkei +1.7%, HK +3%, Kospi +0.4%, Sydney +1.8%, Shanghai +2%. Gold $1048/oz, oil $80/bbl.
