- Japanese May unemployment rate rises to 5.2%
- Japanese household spending falls for 2nd month in a row, down 0.7%
- Australian mining tax agreement gets closer; possibility of election increases
- Regional stockmarkets turn lower after lunch led by Shanghai and HK
- Oil and gold unchanged on the session
The Nikkei closed out the morning session 0.6% higher but has fallen by over 1% since then as the HK and Shanghai markets fell on signs that the global recovery may be stuttering. Governments have been spending less over the last few months and this is clear in economies like Japan where first retail sales and now unemployment and household spending data show an economy which has hit the brakes. This has all led to the usual risk-averse trading in the JPY crosses.
EUR/JPY spent the morning trading in a quiet 109.60/85 range before the risk-averse trading kicked in. This saw the pair fall below last weeks 109.55 low and then qucikly further to a session low of 109.00 thus far. USD/JPY broke below 89.00 triggering stops in the process. Range: 88.85/89.42
EUR/USD has been trading with a soft tone for the session as cross-selling continues to dominate. Range: 1.2258/90, EUR/CHF 1.3332/63
Cable rallied strongly overnight on the back of heavy EUR/GBP selling but it has struggled to carry on with this momentum as GBP/JPY selling weighed. Ranges: 1.5084/1.5119; EUR/GBP .8125/40
The AUD has been the hardest hit by the falls on Chinese stockmarkets, falling 1% against the JPY in the 2 hours since lunch. Ranges: AUD/USD .8668/.8721; AUD/JPY 76.96/77.97
Markets: Nikkei -0.6%, HK -1.2%, Shanghai -1.8%, Kospi -0.4%. Oil unch $78.25/bbl. Gold unch $1238/oz.