Yen surges in volatile trading in Asia earlier today
Apple headlines on China may have been a trigger during thin liquidity but there's no doubt some heavy selling and stops being triggered in AUD/JPY and TRY/JPY had something to do with the flash crash that we saw earlier today. It's all part and parcel to what contributed to the almost 4% decline in USD/JPY and sharp drops in yen pairs across the board.
Although the yen has pared some of those earlier gains, it still remains the outright leader against the rest of the major currencies bloc by quite a margin. Meanwhile, with risk battered (E-minis trading down 1.3% currently) the aussie is the one suffering the most as worries continue to mount on China's economic growth for this year.
Other major currencies remain mixed for the most part against the dollar but there's a hint of risk-off movement with the swissie also posting decent gains on the day. EUR/USD continues to play ping pong between the 1.13 and 1.15 range and that's keeping the single currency underpinned for the time being after bouncing off lows of 1.1309 earlier today.
European equities won't offer much clues towards markets today as all eyes are focused on yen pairs and how US equity futures perform. There was a bit of a jump in the latter from being down 1.7% to now being lower by 1.3% and that helped USD/JPY rise back above 107.00 to 107.30 levels currently.
That said, risk will remain the major focus ahead of US trading.
