Asian Session – Yen dips on anticipation of Chinese stimulus
March 31, 2014 7:07 am
The yen gave up some ground during the Asian session on Monday, trading around 102.86 against the dollar and 141.44 against the yen, with modest losses around 0.1%.
The release of the Bank of Japan’s Tankan business survey for the first quarter on Tuesday will be a key event for the yen.
Markets were anticipating economic stimulus out of China, which would in turn boost risk sentiment. There was also anticipation of tomorrow’s official manufacturing PMI number for China for March, which was very close to 50 the previous month at 50.2.
The Australian dollar backed down from its recent high just below the 93 cent level against its US counterpart, to trade around 0.9225. This move was most probably due to profit-taking as the aussie rallied sharply during the previous 2 weeks.
The euro was little changed against the dollar at 1.3750 or so, following Friday’s weaker-than-expected German inflation numbers for March and ahead of today’s Eurozone flash inflation estimate for the same month. Inflation in the single currency area is expected to dip to 0.6% from 0.7% (year-on-year) during February. Any lower than that would pile up pressure on the European Central Bank to do something during its meeting on Thursday.
Eurozone unemployment figures for February will be released on Tuesday and will also help to give a clearer picture of the area’s economic situation.
The market was also waiting for a speech by Janet Yellen, the Federal Reserve Chair, later in the day.
Geopolitical events were at the back of many traders’ minds as although tensions over Ukraine have receded, a large Russian military force remained deployed near the border of Russia and Ukraine. The Russian and US foreign ministers were holding talks about the situation.
The week ahead will be busy as there will also be the release of nonfarm payrolls on Friday.
The yen gave up some ground during the Asian session on Monday, trading around 102.86 against the dollar and 141.44 against the yen, with modest losses around 0.1%.
The release of the Bank of Japan’s Tankan business survey for the first quarter on Tuesday will be a key event for the yen.
Markets were anticipating economic stimulus out of China, which would in turn boost risk sentiment. There was also anticipation of tomorrow’s official manufacturing PMI number for China for March, which was very close to 50 the previous month at 50.2.
The Australian dollar backed down from its recent high just below the 93 cent level against its US counterpart, to trade around 0.9225. This move was most probably due to profit-taking as the aussie rallied sharply during the previous 2 weeks.
The euro was little changed against the dollar at 1.3750 or so, following Friday’s weaker-than-expected German inflation numbers for March and ahead of today’s Eurozone flash inflation estimate for the same month. Inflation in the single currency area is expected to dip to 0.6% from 0.7% (year-on-year) during February. Any lower than that would pile up pressure on the European Central Bank to do something during its meeting on Thursday.
Eurozone unemployment figures for February will be released on Tuesday and will also help to give a clearer picture of the area’s economic situation.
The market was also waiting for a speech by Janet Yellen, the Federal Reserve Chair, later in the day.
Geopolitical events were at the back of many traders’ minds as although tensions over Ukraine have receded, a large Russian military force remained deployed near the border of Russia and Ukraine. The Russian and US foreign ministers were holding talks about the situation.
The week ahead will be busy as there will also be the release of nonfarm payrolls on Friday.
Related Posts: