Article by ForexTime

USD/JPY The USD/JPY opened the Asian session at 119.46 after volatile Lon and NY sessions that saw a low of 118.86 print followed by a strong rally that still left the pairing nearly 1.0% down on the day. With the Tokyo holiday – the Asian session was a far cry from being volatile and could only manage a 119.39/55 range during the morning session. The USD/JPY was pivoting around 119.50 heading into the afternoon session.

EUR/USD The EUR/USD opened the Asian session at 1.2156 after failing to get a lift in the USD selloff against other major currencies – as the EUR continues to be weighed down by Greece political uncertainty and expectations of ECB QE,. The Tokyo holiday and year-end ensured an extremely quiet Asian session. The EUR/USD could only manage a 1.2151/63 range through the morning session and it was trading around 1.2160 heading into the afternoon session.

The AUD/USD opened the Asian session at 0.8184 after just trailing the JPY as the best performing currency due to short covering and a huge 4.85% rise in the iron ore price. The AUD/USD traded at 0.8177 in early Asia before attaining a bid tone in very quiet trading conditions. It traded to a session high just above 0.8190 a few minutes before the HSBC China MFG PMI release. The HSBC version of the China PMI came in at 49.6 – slightly better than the Flash estimate of 49.5. The AUD/USD pushed above 0.8200 after the data flushed out more AUD/USD shorts. The AUD/USD traded to 0.8215 and was trading around that level heading into the afternoon session.

Article by ForexTime

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