Asian Session – Dollar climbs back above 104 against yen
December 24, 2013 8:59 am
The Asian session was relatively quiet as trading volumes are thin before the Christmas holiday and many investors are locking in profits before the year-end. News flow was light except for a monthly report from the Bank of Japan which was fairly upbeat.
Overall market sentiment was risk-on today, following from encouraging US data yesterday which underpins the Fed’s view that the US economy is improving. Last week the Fed announced it will begin trimming its bond buying program. This lends support to the dollar.
Also helping the dollar was an announcement by International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde over the weekend that the IMF would raise its US growth forecast next year.
As the US central bank aims to tighten monetary policy, the Bank of Japan is on the opposite course and is loosening its policy. Such a divergence in policies is driving the dollar/yen pair higher. Meanwhile, the Tokyo Nikkei rose above 16,000 for the first time in six years which also helped.
As a result, the dollar climbed to a new five-year high against the yen last Friday. In today’s Asian trade, the pair gained 0.13% to 104.24 yen.
The dollar gained elsewhere, up 0.08% against the euro to 1.3684 and gained by the same amount versus the pound to 1.6340.
The greenback also gained against the Australian dollar, up 0.03% to 0.8908.
Looking ahead, dollar will be driven by more US data today. A report will be released and is forecast to show a rebound in durable goods orders.
The Asian session was relatively quiet as trading volumes are thin before the Christmas holiday and many investors are locking in profits before the year-end. News flow was light except for a monthly report from the Bank of Japan which was fairly upbeat.
Overall market sentiment was risk-on today, following from encouraging US data yesterday which underpins the Fed’s view that the US economy is improving. Last week the Fed announced it will begin trimming its bond buying program. This lends support to the dollar.
Also helping the dollar was an announcement by International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde over the weekend that the IMF would raise its US growth forecast next year.
As the US central bank aims to tighten monetary policy, the Bank of Japan is on the opposite course and is loosening its policy. Such a divergence in policies is driving the dollar/yen pair higher. Meanwhile, the Tokyo Nikkei rose above 16,000 for the first time in six years which also helped.
As a result, the dollar climbed to a new five-year high against the yen last Friday. In today’s Asian trade, the pair gained 0.13% to 104.24 yen.
The dollar gained elsewhere, up 0.08% against the euro to 1.3684 and gained by the same amount versus the pound to 1.6340.
The greenback also gained against the Australian dollar, up 0.03% to 0.8908.
Looking ahead, dollar will be driven by more US data today. A report will be released and is forecast to show a rebound in durable goods orders.
Related Posts: