The US dollar extended its NFP-inspired gains into Asia for the second straight session and gained versus the euro and yen, while was seen lower against the Antipodes.
Key headlines in Asia
BOJ’s Iwata: BOJ needs to be accountable if it doesn’t meet 2% inflation
Moody’s downgrades Western Australian state
BOJ Jan meeting ‘Summary of Opinions’ published
Dominating themes in Asia – centered on JPY, AUD and NZD
A low-key affair in Asia this Monday, as most major Asian markets remain closed on account of Lunar New Year Celebrations. Hence, amid thin trades and low volatility, the US dollar continued to consolidate the post-NFP gains and trades higher against its major rivals. The US dollar index, a gauge of the greenback’s relative strength, rises 0.20% to 97.17, recovering from fresh four month lows struck at 96.04 in a knee-jerk downward spike post US jobs data released on Friday.
The USD/JPY pair tracked broad USD strength and edged higher this session, now testing post-NFP highs reached at 117.40 levels. The major ignored upbeat Japan’s trade data and caught a renewed bid tone over the last few hours as the Japanese stocks flipped to gains and fuelled risk-on wave into markets. Among the Antipodes, the Aussie reversed Friday’s slide and resumed the recent uptrend as better than expected Aus jobs ads data further underpinned the AUD. The AUD/USD pair climbs 0.33% and retakes 0.71 handle. While the Kiwi also follows suit and extend the recovery mode, now gaining 0.20% to 0.6640 levels.
Among the Asian equities, Japan’s Nikkei erased losses and jumped into the green, now rising 0.75%. While ASX 200 index also snapped losses and trades muted around 4,975 points towards close. Meanwhile, Chinese markets remain closed for a week-long New Year celebration. New Zealand’s markets are also closed today in observance of Waitangi Day. Other markets closed today include Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Singapore.
Heading into Europe and North America
A data-quiet EUR calendar to kick-off an eventful week ahead, with the German industrial production and Euro zone Sentix investor confidence data lined up for release.
Germany’s industrial production data for December is expected to see 0.5% growth m/m, compared to the 0.3% drop registered in November, and a 0.5% decline year-on-year, after 0.1% growth seen a month ago.
Moving on towards the North American session, building permits data from Canada along with BOC Governing Council Member Lane’s speech will be closely watched. While from the US, in absence of first-tier data, the second line of data in the labor market conditions index will be reported.
(Market News Provided by FXstreet)