- Japanese stocks rebound after yesterday’s collapse
- Heightened nervousness persists regarding nuclear power plants
- Japan’s average wages continue to rise, 11th consecutive month
- Moody’s cut Portugal’s debt rating by 2 steps
- FOMC upbeat overnight but unlikely to start firming
- Nikkei +3.5%; Gold slightly higher at $1397/oz, Oil lower at $96.70/bbl
The radiation threat in Japan remains very real but the panic has subsided somewhat. The upshot of this was that the Nikkei was up by almost 6% at one stage and is closing the session +3.5%. AUD/JPY rallied in early trade but this only gave stale longs a chance to bail out. Similarly in USD/JPY, rallies met with plentiful supply. Ranges: 80.70/81.17; EUR/JPY 112.71/113.47
AUD/USD jumped from .9880 to .9950 on the improved sentiment but it also ran into grateful sellers near .9950 and more are said to be lying in wait near .9970. Ranges: .9881/.9951
EUR/USD spent the early part of the session butting it’s head against 1.4000 but it eventually gave up and drifted lower. Once again most of the flows have come from EUR/JPY. Ranges: 1.3958/1.4000
Cable 1.6046/86, EUR/GBP .8688/.8708, USD/CHF .9149/83.
