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6 Jan 2015
Market Movers: Asia PMIs improve, Yen strengthens against the Dollar
FXStreet (Barcelona) - The first week of trading saw weakness in the US equities and strength in the Japanese Yen on the back of global growth concerns due to the ongoing decline in Crude Oil. USD/JPY fell below the 119 handle to register a new 3-week low at 118.66, currently trading just above the 119 handle at 119.13, down 0.17% for the day.
Asia saw positive data with Hong Kong (50.3, previous 48.8), China (53.4, previous 53.0) and Japan PMIs (51.7, previous 50.6) improving. Nikkei 225 is down 0.73% at 16965 while Shanghai Composite Index registered a gain yet again, up 0.03% at 3351.45.
EUR saw recovery from the Monday’s lows, currently up 0.02% at 1.1936, while the GBP/USD pair continues to tread in negative territory, down 0.16% at 1.5226. The AUD/USD at 0.8127 (+0.49%) and NZD/USD at 0.7731 (+0.56%) both registered gains and remain the highest gainers among majors.
Gold Futures finally rose above the USD 1200/oz handle, currently trading at USD 1207.78/oz, up 0.44%. Crude continues to tank, with WTI Crude below $50 at USD 49.46/barrel, down 2.33%, while Brent Crude is down 0.09% at USD 53.53/barrel.
The top FX gainers include USD/RUB at 61.6167 (+1.95%), NZD/CAD at 16.2399 (+0.52%)and NZD/CHF at 0.7785 (+0.49%), while GBP/NZD at 1.9691 (-0.65%), GBP/AUD at 1.8740 (-0.58%) and EUR/NZD at 1.5431 (-0.49%) are the top losers.
Asia saw positive data with Hong Kong (50.3, previous 48.8), China (53.4, previous 53.0) and Japan PMIs (51.7, previous 50.6) improving. Nikkei 225 is down 0.73% at 16965 while Shanghai Composite Index registered a gain yet again, up 0.03% at 3351.45.
EUR saw recovery from the Monday’s lows, currently up 0.02% at 1.1936, while the GBP/USD pair continues to tread in negative territory, down 0.16% at 1.5226. The AUD/USD at 0.8127 (+0.49%) and NZD/USD at 0.7731 (+0.56%) both registered gains and remain the highest gainers among majors.
Gold Futures finally rose above the USD 1200/oz handle, currently trading at USD 1207.78/oz, up 0.44%. Crude continues to tank, with WTI Crude below $50 at USD 49.46/barrel, down 2.33%, while Brent Crude is down 0.09% at USD 53.53/barrel.
The top FX gainers include USD/RUB at 61.6167 (+1.95%), NZD/CAD at 16.2399 (+0.52%)and NZD/CHF at 0.7785 (+0.49%), while GBP/NZD at 1.9691 (-0.65%), GBP/AUD at 1.8740 (-0.58%) and EUR/NZD at 1.5431 (-0.49%) are the top losers.