- Draft of UK financial services bill frightens business leaders, cable slips
- Singapore Q3 GDP rises less than expected
- Obama ends Asian trip with talks in Korea on North Korea and free trade
- NZD falls over 1% on heightened risk aversion
- Nikkei falls 1% on global economic worries
- Gold steady at $1143, consolidating overnight highs
A gradual slip lower in the major pairings and in the JPY crosses has only finally been arrested in the last 30 minutes with some minor recoveries.
A 1% fall in the Nikkei has set the tone for the session with pairs like AUD/JPY and NZD/JPY leading the way. Markets are getting thinner and interest is starting to wane.
Cable slipped early after talk in the UK newspapers that business leaders did not like the look of the draft of the new financial services legislation. In these markets, news like that is enough to drive non-committed traders (myself included I’m sad to say) to book profits. Range 1.6687/1.6755. Talk of Asian sovereign bids at 1.6680.
EUR/USD has slipped under EUR/JPY selling and also the AUD and NZD selling has weighed on sentiment. Light stops have been triggered on the way down but interest is also fairly sparse around current levels. Range 1.4904/65.
USD/JPY has drifted lower with the cross JPY selling; range 89.07/43.
Markets: Nikkei -0.9%, HK -0.7%, Kospi +0.7%. Gold $1143/oz. Oil $79.50.