Asian Session – Yen, aussie benefit from Chinese GDP
January 20, 2014 8:03 am
Most major currency pairs ended the Asian session little changed compared to Friday’s New York close, as news that Chinese 4th quarter GDP slightly exceeded expectations brought relief to the market and specifically to Asian currencies.
Chinese growth for the year 2013 came in at 7.7% compared to 7.7% during 2012, beating the official target of 7.5% growth. The Chinese economy is expected to slow down somewhat to 7.4% although there are concerns that the economy could face headwinds. The Chinese leadership would like have higher quality and more sustainable growth in the future, but that could also mean lower growth.
Boosting domestic consumption instead of investment and exports, improving the environmental conditions and cooling a hot real estate market are likely to be the key challenges for China’s economic leadership in the coming year.
Retail sales for China during December came in at a year-on-year rate of 13.6% as expected, while urban investment and industrial output slightly missed expectations coming in at 19.6% and 9.7% respectively.
Having dipped to a fresh low of 0.8756 earlier in the session, the Australian dollar managed to climb back to finish 0.26% higher at 0.8795.
In other economic news, Japanese November industrial production was revised lower to -0.1% compared to +0.1% initially released.
The yen managed to post slight gains both against the euro as well as the dollar. Dollar / yen was down 0.10% to 104.11 and euro / yen was 0.08% lower to 140.95; once again dipping below the 141 mark.
The US dollar remained strong against the euro as it was little changed during the Asian session following Friday’s big gains. The euro was last trading at 1.3539, after it had made a new 2-month low at 1.3507 against the dollar earlier in the session.
The previous week was particularly beneficial to the dollar as strong US economic releases increased the likelihood that the Fed will carry on with tapering during its meeting next week. Speculator longs in favor of the dollar have risen to 6-month highs and the idea that long dollar against the yen is going to be the trade of 2014 (just as long euro / yen was the previous year’s trade) is becoming increasingly popular.
There are little news of consequence during the European session and the US is on holiday later on, making it a day with probably low liquidity – meaning it can be either very quiet or volatile as even a few large-sized orders could move the market.
Most major currency pairs ended the Asian session little changed compared to Friday’s New York close, as news that Chinese 4th quarter GDP slightly exceeded expectations brought relief to the market and specifically to Asian currencies.
Chinese growth for the year 2013 came in at 7.7% compared to 7.7% during 2012, beating the official target of 7.5% growth. The Chinese economy is expected to slow down somewhat to 7.4% although there are concerns that the economy could face headwinds. The Chinese leadership would like have higher quality and more sustainable growth in the future, but that could also mean lower growth.
Boosting domestic consumption instead of investment and exports, improving the environmental conditions and cooling a hot real estate market are likely to be the key challenges for China’s economic leadership in the coming year.
Retail sales for China during December came in at a year-on-year rate of 13.6% as expected, while urban investment and industrial output slightly missed expectations coming in at 19.6% and 9.7% respectively.
Having dipped to a fresh low of 0.8756 earlier in the session, the Australian dollar managed to climb back to finish 0.26% higher at 0.8795.
In other economic news, Japanese November industrial production was revised lower to -0.1% compared to +0.1% initially released.
The yen managed to post slight gains both against the euro as well as the dollar. Dollar / yen was down 0.10% to 104.11 and euro / yen was 0.08% lower to 140.95; once again dipping below the 141 mark.
The US dollar remained strong against the euro as it was little changed during the Asian session following Friday’s big gains. The euro was last trading at 1.3539, after it had made a new 2-month low at 1.3507 against the dollar earlier in the session.
The previous week was particularly beneficial to the dollar as strong US economic releases increased the likelihood that the Fed will carry on with tapering during its meeting next week. Speculator longs in favor of the dollar have risen to 6-month highs and the idea that long dollar against the yen is going to be the trade of 2014 (just as long euro / yen was the previous year’s trade) is becoming increasingly popular.
There are little news of consequence during the European session and the US is on holiday later on, making it a day with probably low liquidity – meaning it can be either very quiet or volatile as even a few large-sized orders could move the market.
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