Forex Marketz Daily Forex News – Fully Markets Update
Asian markets were boosted by a strong close on Wall Street this morning. Many Asian markets are closed for the Lunar New Year Holiday, so volume is a bit thin in the region.
U.S. indices, overnight during North American trade hours, extended their winning streak. It is now at five days on. The Dow and S&P 500 each broke above their 50 day moving averages. Treasury and bond yields hit new multiyear highs.
Looking at the U.S. economic calendar, jobless claims were up by 7,000 to 230,000. They recovered from 45 year low. The producer price index was up by 0.4 percent for the month of January. This was in line with expectations.
In Asia, this morning, volume is lower than normal with financial markets in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia and Vietnam all closed for the Lunar New Year Holiday.
A key Asian benchmark, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 Was up 1.69 percent. This comes as the yen fell against the U.S. dollar. As of 11:30 am Hong Kong time the USD/JPY Forex market was at ¥106.18 per dollar. This comes after hitting a new 15 month high earlier in the morning.
Utilities rose this morning on the Nikkei. Kansai Electric Power and Chubu Electric Power were both up more than five percent.
Used car dealer Idom was up by 1.78 percent. News headlines said that the company is partnering with Uber in Africa.
Beer manufacturer Sapporo Holdings, bucked the up trend, falling 4.38 percent. This comes reporting a 16 percent drop in 2017 profits.
Asian Investors watch Bank of Japan Headlines
Economic news in the Asian region is a bit soft today. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government coalition reappointed Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda to another five-year term. This suggests that the island nation’s ultra easy stimulus monetary policy will remain unchanged.
Australian shares were up 0.10 percent this morning. The Australian dollar was trading near $0.7955. This is close to its two week high at $0.7967. This was hit yesterday afternoon.
