Asia Summary and Highlights 28 Oct

Asia Session

All eyes were on the meeting between Trump and the new Japan PM Takaichi. Takaichi is speaking highly of Trump and seems to have gained the seal of approval from Trump as it reminds him of his "friend" Abe. They are also expected to sign a joint agreement on rare earths but details are lacking. USD/JPY is trading 0.44% lower at 152.21.

The market is mostly rangebound for market participants taking a breather after a terrific start for major equity indexes. Chinese and Hong Kong equities are outperforming their Japanese and U.S. peers. The USD is trading broadly weaker against majors. AUD/USD is trading 0.11% higher at 0.6563, NZD/USD is trading 0.2% higher at 0.5780 while USD/CAD slips 0.04%. Else, EUR/USD is up 0.16% and GBP/USD is up 0.2%.

North American session

Equities were buoyed by hopes for a trade deal between the US and China and this saw USD/JPY moving above 153 in the morning after bottoming near 152.60, but a late dip saw a correction to 152.90. EUR/USD was little changed around 1.1635 for most of the session but the late USD dip saw 1.1650 briefly touched. EUR/GBP saw modest gains to .8735.  AUD/USD sustained European gains around .6555 but US-Canada trade tensions saw USD/CAD advance to around 1.40 from 1.3975.