Market News

Asian equity markets were mixed on Thursday with Japan's Nikkei at fresh six-year highs while mainland shares were dragged down by steep losses in financials.

The yen traded 0.2 percent from a five-year low against the dollar as the Bank of Japan continues unprecedented easing while the U.S. Federal Reserve begins to pare stimulus.

Better than expected consumption figures from the U.S. helped to steady the greenback during the Asian trading session as it gave rise to continued speculation that the improvement to the economic recovery would offer a boost to yields on U.S. Treasuries.

t is that time of year again! As the Forex market is centered in London and North America, traders should pay attention to their holiday season of Christmas and New Year.

With the Christmas holidays just ahead, lackluster trade is already surfacing for the major currencies with the Yen, Euro and greenback barely moving during Asian trade. For the Japanese Yen, market players are unlikely to see any true momentum as a holiday there impacts trade.

Ahead of the Bank of Japan’s monthly policy meeting, the Japanese Yen had once again been under pressure as investors speculate on the BOJ’s commitment to maintaining their existing, ultra loose policy.

The U.S. Dollar surged to a 5-year peak versus the safe haven Japanese Yen following the surprise news from the Federal Reserve that it would begin to scale back its quantitative easing scheme by cutting the monthly bond purchase by $10 billion, split equally between Treasuries and mortgage-back securities.

The greenback was clearly on the defensive during the Asian trading session as market players await a Fed decision which could impact the dollar’s direction.

The Euro continued to edge broadly higher on Tuesday following the release yesterday of unexpectedly upbeat manufacturing data from the Eurozone.

The U.S. Dollar experienced light trading and little movement during Monday’s trading session in Asia, with investors making the decision to take a wait and see stance to determine what, if anything, the Federal Reserve might do when its policy team meets later this week.

The U.S. Dollar edged broadly higher during Friday’s Asian trade, boosted there from unexpectedly strong retail sales data from the U.S., which helped the U.S. Dollar Index move away from Wednesday’s 6-week trough.

The Japanese Yen edged lower and then firmed during the Asian trading session, following a broad rise triggered by a Wall Street slump on growing expectations that the U.S. central bank might begin scaling back quantitative easing measures even as soon as this year.

The Euro struck a fresh 6-week high versus the U.S. Dollar during Wednesday’s Asian trading session on expectations that a Eurozone banking deal is in the works aimed at eliminating those which are in danger of collapse and shoring up those still deemed viable.

The Euro enjoyed fresh highs against both the U.S. Dollar and the Japanese Yen, getting a boost from comparatively favorable monetary policy from the European Central Bank as well as unexpectedly improved trade data from China which gave a boost to risk-related currencies.

In spite of Friday’s release of better than expected labor data from the U.S. the greenback’s rally was short-lived, and as a result, the common currency Euro surged to a near 6-week peak.