23 Dec 2014
Market Movers: FX sees thin trading, Asian indices see high volatility
FXStreet (Barcelona) - The Asian session saw the Shanghai Composite Index falling 3% in the opening hour aided by PBoC’s no-can-do attitude for increasing liquidity via the repo market. The index saw high volatility, down 94.83 (-3.03%) points at 3032.61. Nikkei 225 is down 0.14% at 17760.
Gold took a plunge during the US session yesterday as Buy-stop loss orders were triggered after it fell below USD 1192/Oz levels. Gold Futures currently trade at USD 1181, way below the USD 1200 mark. OPEC’s aggressive stance on keeping its production unchanged drove oil prices lower yesterday. Currently, WTI Crude Futures are up 0.38% at USD 55.86/barrel while Brent is down 0.08% at USD 60.38/barrel.
The FX space saw thin trading due to holidays. The NZ trade balance showed a deficit for the 5th consecutive month, but came in lower than expectations (USD 550m) at USD 213mn. NZD/USD climbed higher by around 0.17% to make fresh highs at 0.7743 in the Asian session on lower deficit, currently at 0.7732. AUD/USD lost 0.05% to trade at 0.8114, with the monthly change of - 6.40%.
USD/JPY broke above the 120 handle yesterday and now trades at 120.15, marginally up at 0.02%. The Euro trades near its 2-year lows, currently down at 1.2234, having lost 2.25% since the last week. Meanwhile, the GBP/USD pair failed to maintain the 1.56 handle yesterday; currently trading marginally lower at 1.5584 levels.
USD/RUB at 55.36 (+2.01%), XAG/USD at 15.7379 (+0.84%) and XAU/USD at 1181.8745 (+0.67%) are the top gainers in the FX space. SGD/JPY at 90.7884 (-0.29%), USD/SEK at 7.7874 (-0.28%) and AUD/NZD at 1.0495 (-0.19%) are the top losers.
Gold took a plunge during the US session yesterday as Buy-stop loss orders were triggered after it fell below USD 1192/Oz levels. Gold Futures currently trade at USD 1181, way below the USD 1200 mark. OPEC’s aggressive stance on keeping its production unchanged drove oil prices lower yesterday. Currently, WTI Crude Futures are up 0.38% at USD 55.86/barrel while Brent is down 0.08% at USD 60.38/barrel.
The FX space saw thin trading due to holidays. The NZ trade balance showed a deficit for the 5th consecutive month, but came in lower than expectations (USD 550m) at USD 213mn. NZD/USD climbed higher by around 0.17% to make fresh highs at 0.7743 in the Asian session on lower deficit, currently at 0.7732. AUD/USD lost 0.05% to trade at 0.8114, with the monthly change of - 6.40%.
USD/JPY broke above the 120 handle yesterday and now trades at 120.15, marginally up at 0.02%. The Euro trades near its 2-year lows, currently down at 1.2234, having lost 2.25% since the last week. Meanwhile, the GBP/USD pair failed to maintain the 1.56 handle yesterday; currently trading marginally lower at 1.5584 levels.
USD/RUB at 55.36 (+2.01%), XAG/USD at 15.7379 (+0.84%) and XAU/USD at 1181.8745 (+0.67%) are the top gainers in the FX space. SGD/JPY at 90.7884 (-0.29%), USD/SEK at 7.7874 (-0.28%) and AUD/NZD at 1.0495 (-0.19%) are the top losers.