Monday, March 14, 2011

Asian markets

Asian markets are mixed, with the Nikkei plummeting on its first trading day after an earthquake and a following tsunami devastated large areas of the country. In currency markets, the Yen has pulled back after rallying at the opening.

Japanese Nikkei Index has plunged 6.2%, while Australian ASX index sheds 0.4%. On the positive side, the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index edged 0.1% up, and the South Korean Kospi Index rose 0.8%. In China, the Shangai Composite Index remains practically flat.

Market sentiment remains weighed, with Japan struggling to avoid a nuclear catastrophe, with the Bank of Japan taking additional monetary easing measures, while Japanese Finance Minister Noda affirms its commitment to watch Forex markets closely to avoid yen speculation.

Yen highly volatile

USD/JPY decline from 83.30 high on Friday extended on Asian session opening to 80.60 low, and bounced after BoJ increased its bond buying programme to JPY10 Tr, and injected record funds in the banking system. The pair bounced up and consolidated above 82.00 ahead of the European session.

EUR/USD bounced up strongly on Friday after bottoming at 1.3750, one-week low, and the pair extended to 1.3985 high on Asian session opening, to consolidate between 1.3915 and 1.3985 ahead of the European session opening.

GBP/USD retreat from 1.6345 high last week bottommed at 1.5975 low on Friday, and the pair bounced up, to regain 1.6000, and capped at 1.6100on early Asian session, ease to 1.6045 ahead of the European session opening.

 source: fxstreet.com


13 comments:

  1. Watched a bit of the stock market on BBC this morning. Thought of this blog :)

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  2. Shame my funds are tied up in equities otherwise I'd be trading these pairs

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  3. if you buy put options on asian market shares you could gain some money
    but imho thats highly immoral

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  4. I wonder if the rebuilding of japan will spur economic growth despite the devistation

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  5. Volatility going through the roof

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  6. I kinda expected the Yen to take a bit of a dive.

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  7. slightly immoral but buying when the market going down an investement could help them recover so it could be viewd as good.

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  8. I'm not sure it would be immoral because you are investing in a market that is falling, and because it is falling an investment can help them recover quickly.

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