- The Nikkei re-opens after a 3 day holiday, -3% on the day
- Australian retail sales +0.3% against expectations of 0.8%
- New Zealand’s unemployment rate lower than expected at 6%
- China to struggle keeping inflation below 5%, needs to coordinate rate rises with other major economies, will have little trouble showing GDP of 9%+
- Regional bourses fall 2% on average
- Gold remarkably steady at $1175/oz
EUR/JPY closed in NY at 120.00 after a wild session where risk aversion was in full flow. Heavy selling of JPY crosses by real money funds was the big news on the flow front.
Tokyo returned after a 3 day holiday and was happy to book profits in the JPY crosses regardless of the big overnight moves. Any dips towards 120.00 in EUR/JPY were met with grateful buyers. USD/JPY moved around in line with the crosses inside a 35 pip range. Ranges: USD/JPY 93.64/98, EUR/JPY 120.15/72
EUR/USD also tried to break below 1.2800 on a few occasions early in the session but the oversold nature of the EUR against virtually every other currency encouraged very modest short covering. Range: 1.2804/56
The AUD fell after the lower than expected retail sales figures after having experienced earlier pressure when AUD/NZD fell below 1.2500 after the NZ employment data. Ranges: AUD/USD .9050/93.
Markets: Nikkei -3%; HK -1%, Sydney -1.6%, Kospi -2.2%. Gold unchanged at $1175/oz.
