Asia Session Recap

Today's trading in Asia was accentuated by the fact that in Japan it was month end, quarter end and fiscal half year end, thus pushing and pulling the yen, but with the yen ultimately higher as the session wound down. USD/JPY looked robust early as it pushed close to 90.40 highs, but Japanese exporters looking to close the books on the quarter sold dollars aggressively down to 89.65 levels. That level was still a far cry from the 88.24 lows from Monday. As opposed to yesterday's moves that were sparked by comments by Japanese Finance Minister Fujii, today's moves were purely generated by corporations.

The yen crosses followed the same path, with the yen weak early, but firming late in the day. EUR/JPY shed 90 pips to touch 131.00 on a low and GBP/JPY dropped to 143.50 on the day. AUD/JPY was able to buck the trend and move higher for the day as Aussie strength outlasted that of the yen.

Speaking of Australia, today's strong retail sales sent the AUD/USD to a fresh 13 month high a touch over the 0.8800 big figure. The data came in at +0.9%, beating forecasts of +0.5% and last month's -0.1%. Conversely, slightly worse than expected building approvals helped dampen the Aussie move higher. This strong data has helped raise expectations of a RBA rate hike sooner rather than later. Not to be left out, the Kiwi Dollar made nice gains from near 71.35 to just north of 0.7220 as New Zealand business confidence came in at 49.1 as opposed to the projected 34.2. The strong moves of both the Aussie and Kiwi kept the AUD/NZD in check and only slightly higher to 1.2200 levels.

Over in Europe, the dollar continued to be sold as EUR/USD climbed back to 1.4630 levels and the GBP/USD was able to get above 1.6030. The dollar should remain volatile as the US has a good deal of data on its plate for tomorrow. Wednesday in the US brings ADP Non-Farm Employment Change, Final GDP, Chicago PMI, Crude Oil Inventories, and the possibility of a few sparks as the day is rounded out with speaking engagements by FOMC members Lockhart and Kohn.

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