Asia Summary and Highlights 6 Sep

Asia Session

Japanese PM Ishiba resigned over the weekend, two days after the memorandum between U.S.-Japan trade is signed. He was facing a potential vote within the party to oust him on Monday but he decided  to resign first. His demise lays in the election failure for the diet, amping up pressure with the party. USD/JPY jumped higher to 148.11 from 147.34 Friday's close and is trading at 148.15 currently, along with falling JGB yields. 

While market participants had their eyes on Japan political changes, the broader risk mood is positive as we see major equity indexes in the green. Nikkei is leading the pack to challenge the historic high with other major equity indexes nimble on gains. AUD/USD is trading 0.05% higher at 0.6559, NZD/USD is trading 0.15% higher at 0.5902 while USD/CAD rises 0.03%. Else, EUR/USD is down 0.02% (gapped a few pips lower) and GBP/USD down 0.07%.

North American session

The USD saw some slippage ahead of the non-farm payroll release on suggestions that technical difficulties could delay the release, but the data was released as scheduled. A soft report extended the USD’s losses, with payrolls up only 22k, and unemployment up to 4.3% from 4.2%, though that was on a rise in the labor force. USD/JPY slipped from above 148 to see lows below 147 before recovering to 147.40. EUR/USD rose to a high of 1.1760 from near 1.17 before correcting to 1,1720. 

Canada’s employment report was even weaker than the US one with employment down by 65.5k and unemployment up to 7.1% from 6.9%. USD/CAD rose to 1.3850 from 1.38. AUD/CAD gains failed to break .91, which left AUD/USD gains on the day as marginal.