Forex news for Asian-Pacific trading on November 29, 2017

In other markets a snapshot is showing:

  • Japan Nikkei 225 up 81 points or +0.36%
  • China's Shanghai composite index down -17 points or -0.49%
  • Hong Kongs Hang Seng down -80 points or -0.28%
  • Australia's S&P/ASX200 is up 25 points or +0.43%
  • Spot gold is up $1.78 or 0.14% at $1295.75
  • WTI Crude is trading down -$0.31 or -0.53% at $57.68. There are some doubts over output cuts, and there was a surprise rise in US crude stocks at the end of the NY session

Key stories in the Asian Pacific session included:

  • Bitcoin continued it race higher. The cryptocurrency moved above the $10,000 level for the first time and tacked nearly another $400 for good measure. The gains for 2017 are near 1,000% (yes that is right). It was only on October 12th that the price first cracked $5000. Yes, we are still in November and remember there was a 30% decline within the month too. The price action is tulip-esque.
  • N. Korea had a press conference about the inter-continental ballistic missile, it lobbed into to the Sea of Japan. They are touting that the missile could reach anywhere in the continental US. I am sure that President Trump will be lobbing some insults back at Kim Jung Un tomorrow (or soon thereafter)
  • The GBP added another 27 pips in Asian trading. Traders are still excited about the news that the EU and Britain are to agree on the divorce payment. That's the good news. The Irish border is the next step in the process and may be even more of a problem
  • US senators had a few comments about the progress of their tax reform bill and spoke positively (of course they will). The Democrats (Pelosi and Schummer) meanwhile did not show at a WH meeting as they reacted to a negative tweet from Trump yesterday about the prospects of that meeting from the key Democrats. Never a dull day. The Republican Senators are simply focused on getting the 51 votes from their 52 seat majority sometime this week (maybe).
  • The forex market was pretty dead (kinda like my desktop computer - which is being tended too hence the lack of technical analysis posts. Grrrrrrrr). The GBP is the strongest currency 8 or 9 hours into the new trading day. The AUD is the weakest. The USD little changed vs. most of the major currencies with the exception of the GBP where it is lower by 0.21%.
  • The trading ranges reflected the near dead activity as well (see chart below). The EURUSD could only muster a 17 pip trading range. The USDJPY did a little better at 29 pips. The one piece of economic news - Japan retail sales - came out weaker than expectations at 0.0% vs 0.2%. YoY data was also weaker and it did help to contribute to a little more activity in the JPY pair. However, moves higher were retraced back lower.