- Radiation fall-out in Japan becomes more serious with levels 40 times normal detected near Tokyo
- Nikkei fell almost 7% in the morning session and then another 7% immediately after lunch, before bouncing
- Risk aversion saw big falls in the JPY crosses
- Unconfirmed reports of BOJ checking prices saw USD/JPY spike 70 pips over lunch
- RBA minutes suggest no rate rises in foreseeable future
- Gold has fallen 1% and Silver is -3%
- Nikkei -13.5%, HK -3.5%, other markets -2.5% on average
It’s been all about Japan today and the escalating problem of radiation leaking from nuclear power plants. This has had a dramatic effect on investor confidence in Japan and the stockmarket has been sold very heavily.
USD/JPY has been relatively stable despite the turmoil. There have been rumours that the BOJ was checking prices, which caused a shrp 70 pip spike, but overall USD/JPY has drifted lower and the crosses like AUD/JPY have fallen very heavily. Ranges: USD/JPY 81.21/82.03; EUR/JPY 113.22/114.64
AUD/USD started to fall from the outset, after closing in NY at 1.0100. With the Nikkei down by 14%, it’s little wonder that risk aversion was the main play in the FX market and the AUD market is very long. The RBA minutes helped fuel the selling and strong technical and corporate support near .9970 has now been broken. Ranges: .9923/1.0102
EUR/USD followed the lead of EUR/JPY for the most part and has traded a wide 1.3891/1.4000 range.
Cable also played second fiddle, trading 1.6096/1.6184 and EUR/GBP .8621/54
