- China orders some banks to raise reserve requirements by 0.5%
- China’s October trade surplus larger than expected at $27.1 billion
- G20 draft-statement meeting reportedly became very heated
- Chinese central bank adviser calls Fed policy irresponsible
- Australian owner-occupied housing finance +1.3%.
There has not been much overall movement during the Asian session but EUR/USD and AUD/USD have both travelled up and down their intraday ranges on a number of occasions.
EUR/USD opened at 1.3770 and the first move was lower as interbank dealers tried to trigger stops below 1.3735. Option-related buying at this level has been very consistent and a second attempt at driving lower was also thwarted. Ranges: EUR/USD 1.3737/93, EUR/CHF 1.3318/58
AUD/USD opened around 1.0020 but persistent buying by Australian corporates gave the pair an early bid tone. Rumours of a 50 bps rate hike in China sent the pair tumbling back to parity but the corporate bids held firm again. The announcement of the reserve requirement hike led to a modest short-covering. Ranges: .9998/1.0070
USD/JPY tried to rally towards 82.00 in early trade but again it was corporate sell orders stalling gains. It has been a particularly quiet trading session for the JPY. Ranges: 81.56/87
Sterling has also had a fairly tight 50 pip range without any discernible bias, 1.5968/1.6021.
