Asia Summary and Highlights 13 Feb
Major equity indexes in the red
Asia Session
After a week of falling, it looks like the USD/JPY is attempting a rebound on Friday. We have multiple headlines earlier, regarding U.S.-Japan trade talk and Japan-China geopolitical tension. It is reported that there have been some progress for the Japanese investment topic and would like to focus on first batch of projects, though there seems to be certain obstacle remain. USD/JPY is trading 0.39% higher at 153.30 as JGB yields recover the opening gap.
Major equity indexes are in the red on Friday. There isn't much market moving headlines and it seems to be week end flows dominating. Precious metal is trading higher for the session. AUD/USD is trading 0.18% lower at 0.7078. NZD/USD is trading 0.12% lower while USD/CAD rises 0.08%. Else, EUR/USD is down 0.08% and GBP/USD is down 0.12%.
European and North American sessions
A 0.1% increase in Q4 UK GDP was weaker than expected but the market reaction was modest. US data was also weaker than expected, with initial claims slipping only to 227k from 232k , with a fall of 8.4% in January existing home sales following. The soft US data weighed on UST yields and may have contributed to a slide in equities that gained momentum later. USD/JPY slipped from highs near 153.75 to lows near 153.25 before returning to near 153.
Equity weakness weighed on the riskier currencies, USD/CAD moving above 1.36 after finding support above 1.3550 and AUD/USD falling below .71 after peaking near .7150. GBP/USD saw a brief move above 1.3650 before finding support near 1.36. EUR/USD traded quite a tight range around 1.1870 but a dip in EUR/CHF to .9130 from .9150 reflected risk off sentiment. Overall the USD was marginally firmer.