The forex trading headlines for Asia trading today: Monday September 16, 2013
The big news of the day was Larry Summers withdrawing from Fed chair consideration, more here
Weekend:
- Syria: US-Russia deal on chemical weapons and more
- Germany: Bavaria’s state election result and implications for the federal election on September 22
- Berlin plans way to Eurozone bank union without Treaty change
- Italian PM Letta appeals for calm ahead of key week
Monday:
- Larry Summers the big news (see above)
- UK Rightmove house prices for September -1.5% m/m (vs. prior was -1.8%)
- New Zealand August Services PMI 53.2 (prior was 58.2)
- New Zealand Westpac NZ Consumer Confidence for Q3: 115.4 (vs. prior of 116.6)
- New Zealand – REINZ house price index for August at 3746.6, up from 3669.1 prior, a rise of +2.1% m/m (-0.5% prior), while house sales were +8.5% (prior +14.7%)
- China’s State Council to accelerate urban infrastructure spending
With the prospect of Tokyo markets being closed for a public holiday in Japan and little weekend news of market-consequence the Monday opening in New Zealand was relatively sedate.
And then …
Curly, Moe and Shemp didn’t get a look in, it was all about Larry. Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal broke the news that Larry Summers had withdrawn from consideration for the position as chair of the US Federal Reserve. It took but moments for the market to react, latching on to the ‘Yellen is more dovish than Summers’ meme and using it to hit the stops of USD longs, selling the USD across the board.
USD/JPY fell (from an early high of 99.52 which had come back to 99.20/25) to 98.60/65 (and then to 55 low) before retracing some if its drop to bounce back above 99.
EUR/USD climbed 70+ points, from around 1.3305 when the new broke to 1.3382 high before settling around 1.3360/70.
GBP/USD and USD/CHF followed along as expected, GBP/USD as high as 1.5951 and finding bids on barely a dip at all; USD/CHF as low as 0.9225/30 before getting back above 0.9250 briefly.
AUD and NZD rallied, too, NZD as high as 0.8230 and AUD to 0.9370 (and on a flyer above 0.9390). NZD settled around 0.8190 and AUD around 0.9335 as the market then, finally, settled in for a quiet Tokyo holiday and awaiting more stuff to hit the fan once Europe and the UK comes in.
