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(CEP News) - Asian equities are lower and the Aussie dollar is strengthening following the U.S. Senate's approval of the U.S. government's $700 billion bailout Bill, and an unexpected surplus in Australia's trade balance.
As hoped and awaited, the U.S. Senate passed an updated version of the U.S. Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 by 74 votes to 24. The legislation now needs final approval from the House of Representatives, to be decided on Friday. Australia's trade balance posted an A$1364 million surplus, against expectations for a smaller A$200 million surplus and against August's A$697 million upwardly revised deficit. Su-Lin Ong, economist with RBC Capital Markets said, "The currency is coming up a long way. It did jump a little on these trade numbers, they were very good numbers, and we did have this legislation passĄthe Aussie looks like its holding up pretty well today." Peter Pontikis said Asian equities are down because they're taking a lead from the U.S. "They're taking a cue from the U.S. financial futures," he said, "the market was always expecting an approval so this is not a surprise as such. We need some leadership out of the U.S. exchanges. We're talking about a few hours phenomena." Currently, the Nasdaq, S&P and Dow Jones Futures are all down. Asia-Pacific fixed income markets are mixed and equities are lower with yields on Australian 10-year bonds down 5.0 bps to 5.38 % and Japanese 10-year government bonds up 2.6 bps to 1.54 %. Sydney's S&P ASX 200 is down 14.60 points to 4780. The Japanese Nikkei is down 125.61 points to 11242.65 and the Hang Seng down 145.78 points to 17870.43. Yields on three-year Australian bonds were down 0.7 bps to 6.24 and the Australian 90-day March 09 contract was flat at 93.90. The Euroyen March 09 contract was down 1.0 ticks to 99.19. The Australian dollar was up 0.06 cents to 0.7880 against the USD and up 0.19 cents to 0.8388 against the Canadian dollar. Against the yen, the U.S. dollar was up 0.23 points to 105.94 and the Canadian dollar was up 0.05 points to 99.51. The euro was down 0.70 cents to 1.3939 USD. All data taken at 10:09 p.m. EDT. Generated by CEP Newswires CEP Newswires - CEP News © 2008. All Rights Reserved. www.economicnews.ca The Copying, Broadcast, Republication or Redistribution of CEP News Content is Expressly Prohibited Without the Prior Written Consent of CEP News. A copy of CEP News disclaimer can be found at http://www.economicnews.ca/cepnews/wire/disclaimer. |
