Asian Preview – Weakness in Asian Currencies
Good morning Traders.
After all the excitement surrounding US employment, Monday’s session was the first opportunity for Asian traders to react to the better than expected result.
As it turns out, currency markets held strong in Asian trade, however when Europe and the US came online, they just couldn’t hold any longer.
Some USD strength helped put the Kiwi to the sword, while the AUD wasn’t able to keep going on its intraday uptrend.
For the most part, we’re seeing momentum back with the USD, and yesterday's Asian session was really just a retrace.
US equity markets continued their record run with the SPX and DOW both at record highs.
There’s a lot of data out of Japan and Australia including the Japanese Current Account and Australian Consumer Confidence. If that data comes in weaker than expected, then we can start looking to go with the USD momentum.
Market Snapshot
AUD – The AUD did its best to keep on fighting yesterday, but there’s been a trend of bearish news that is bound to take its toll on the Aussie. Expect a test of 0.7900 – especially due to any signs of a negative consumer confidence number.
Yen – USD strength will certainly continue to boost the USD/JPY. We are expecting a test of upper resistance at 111.000 very soon. Early morning data might just be the catalyst it needs.
NZD – The Kiwi received a pounding overnight and the momentum is very much to the downside now. We’re looking to sell all pullbacks in the lead up to the RNBZ interest rate announcement later in the week. Our analysts released a successful sell signal yesterday in the Kiwi, so be sure to keep a look out for any further trades later today.
Key Data for the Week
Tuesday is a busy day for Asian traders with a number of expected market moving events.
NZD
RBNZ Interest Rate Decision (Thursday)
Electronic Retail Sales (Thursday)
Business PMI (Friday)
AUD
NAB Business Confidence (Tuesday)
Chinese Import and Exports (Tuesday)
Westpac consumer sentiment (Wednesday)
Chinese CPI (Wednesday)
Chinese New Loans (Thursday)
Yen
Current Account (Tuesday)
Tertiary Industry Activity (Thursday)
Holiday (Friday)