The forex trading headlines for Asia trading today

  • Japan’s finance minister Aso: will tell G20 that Japan’s policies are aimed at ending deflation (there is a G20 meeting scheduled for 18 and 19 April)
  • South Korea plans 19.3tln won stimulus (approximately 17 bln USD equivalent)
  • RBA April minutes released, more here and here
  • New Zealand finance minister English: High currency is a headwind to rebalancing the economy

Traders in Asia today reacted with horror at the cowardly, criminal bombings in Boston overnight. These events put a dampener on activity, with reduced volumes during the session. Nevertheless, there were price moves to deal with and exposures to manage.

Gold extended its fall early in the day, down to 1322 before climbing back over 1350. The CME announced margin hikes on gold and silver; hardly surprising given the enhanced volatility in the two. Full text of the CME announcement here (PDF)

EUR/USD, as it had overnight, stayed in a limited range, with 1.3025/30 acting as support and anything above 1.3050 attracting the sellers.

GBP/USD also traded narrowly, straddling 1.5280 most of the session.

AUD/USD was below 1.0300 briefly in the early morning but recovered to 1.0340. There was a perception in the market that the fall was perhaps a little overdone and a bounce was due, but anything over 1.0335 was sold, providing a cap on it through the session. The RBA minutes were perceived as enhancing the probability for further rate cuts (link to RBA minutes here, but this is the gist of it). While the offers were persistent around 1.0335/40, bids have come back in and it appears a further bounce is likely.

NZD/USD was a bit of a stand-out performer, finding support around 0.8375/80 and rallying quite well to above 0.8450. Comments from the finance minister had little impact – it just seemed the buyers we saw last week were back hunting for it after a good retrace since Thursday.

And so to USD/JPY, with the biggest range on the day. It traded below 96.00 early in the session on follow-through from the US moves but rallied 120+ points in quick time. 97.10/20 capped the run higher and it fell back to 96.55/60. Japanese names (importers) were notable buyers. 97.20 is capping it again as I type this up, but further strength looks likely.