Market News

The Pound Sterling touched on a new 6-week peak versus the U.S. Dollar and a 4-month peak against the single currency Euro in Asian trading today. As reported at 1:49 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, against the U.S. Dollar the British Pound traded at a new high of $1.6422, and versus the Euro, the Pound edged up .5% to trade at 87.67 Pence. The U.K. currency benefited from the recent news that British-based Cadbury Plc and U.S.-based Kraft Foods intend to create the largest confectionary firm in the world; to that end, a $19 billion deal is currently under negotiation.

All of the major currency pairs (except for the GBP/USD) traded in a 30 pip range during the Asian Session. The GBP/USD strengthened on possible M&A flows from a Kraft takeover of Cradbury.

In light Asian trading today, the U.S. Dollar and Japanese Yen both gave up last week’s gains to higher yielding currencies. As reported at 4:04 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, versus the Australian Dollar, the U.S. Dollar slipped to $0.9234, a decline of .1%; versus the single currency Euro, the greenback held steady at $1.4380, though at one point in the trading session it had been up nearly .2%.

Continuing investor concerns about the Greek economy and mounting debt has precipitated the single currency Euro’s fall versus the Japanese Yen and the U.S. Dollar. In Asian trading today, as reported at 1:50 pm (JST) in Tokyo, the Euro slipped to $1.4416 from yesterday’s late New York trade of $1.4504; versus the Japanese Yen, the Euro declined from 131.93 Yen on Thursday to 131.32 Yen.

Positive economic news continues to help boost the Australian Dollar in Asian trading, encouraging investors to take on riskier, higher yielding currencies. Data released yesterday by the Australian government showed that employment figures increased for the 4th straight month last month, and the unemployment rate dropped to its lowest level in 8 months, all of which points to the strong likelihood of another rate increase.

Stronger employment data from Australia beat market expectations, resulting in the AUD/USD spiking to .9293 on the news. With a stronger economic report released, I believe that the AUD/USD will reach .9350 by the end of the week as traders become more confident that the Australian RBA will raise rates in February. The EUR/CHF steadily appreciated over the course of the past session, with some strong bids to the start of the European session.

In Asian trading today, the U.S. Dollar edged up versus the Japanese Yen following remarks made by an official of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank which investors took as a less dovish stance than that currently held by the institution.

As reported at 10:47 a.m. in Sydney, the U.S. Dollar struggled to hold ground in Asia, trading near 3-week troughs versus other major currencies, most specifically high yielders, which were buoyed by whetted risk appetite.

Directly following negative US jobs data and remarks from a Federal Reserve official claiming that US interest rates are going to stay low for an extended period of time, the dollar took a major dive.

Following Friday’s release of disappointing employment data from the United States, the U.S. Dollar lost ground in Asian trading today. The U.S. Dollar Index, which gauges the greenback versus other major currencies, slipped to 76.938 .DXY, a decline of nearly .7%; on Friday, it traded at a high of 78.187 .DXY. Versus the Japanese Yen, the U.S. Dollar slipped to 92.22 Yen, a decline from 92.68 Yen in Friday’s New York trading.

The U.S. Dollar Index is holding steady ahead of employment data from the U.S. Labor Department which will be released later today, and which investors hope will hasten federal monetary policy changes, including raising of the currently historical low interest rates.

After talk by Japanese Finance Minister Naoto Kan about his desire to see the Yen weaken, the JPY indeed sled against the USD as a result of the impression that the country would get involved more actively in the rise of the Yen.

The U.S. Dollar recovered from Tuesday’s sharp drop in choppy Asian trading, as investors booked their profits from the U.S. currency’s earlier rally. As reported at 1:37 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the U.S. Dollar traded at 91.96 Yen, a gain of .2% from yesterday’s low trade of 91.25 Yen on the EBS trading platform

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The USD was majorly reduced vs. the majors in the first trading day of the new year, relinquishing the 1.44-level against the EUR and sliding to 1.0374 against the CAD. Crude oil rebounded and passed the $80 per barrel level while the global equity bourses advanced on Monday session as traders shifted back into riskier assets. The Dow Jones, Nasdaq and S&P 500 were all higher by over 1.5% by afternoon.