Market Brief
Shares in Asia traded higher this morning as stronger that expected Machinery data in Japan boosted markets after a dismal session yesterday following the start of earning’s season. The volatile indicator is a good indicator of capital expenditure in the manufacturing industry – which is the backbone of the Asian economy. Core machinery orders were up 1.4% (after 4 months of contraction) as analysts forecast a 7.9% decline.
The USDJPY continued to trade with risk aversion a predominant factor in it’s price action. While we traded from around 99.35 to 100.28 in the session the bull was yet another correction in the continuing downward trend – brought on by heightened risk aversion as earnings season got off to a difficult start with Alcoa, a company that usually sets the tone for earnings numbers to come.
The greenback’s price action with regards to the JPY is inversely proportional to it’s action against other majors, this fact can be seen as the Euro rose against the dollar. The pair traded higher from the wedge it formed in yesterdays late trading as it pushes past 1.3300 to falter at 1.3325. For the time being we see risk aversion to guide currency pricing as volumes decline ahead of Easter holiday and earning’s season.
Japanese trade balance is back in surplus as imports decline on weak domestic demand. This however doesn’t tell the whole story – it simply shows that imports declined faster than exports. Japan’s Aso is set to announce a $154Bn “stimulus” package in the form of Bond sales. Gold continues to stay below $890/oz and crude is trading at $50.85 at time of writing.
| Global Indexes | Current Level | % Change |
| Nikkei 225 Index | 8916.06 | + 3.74 |
| Hang Seng Index | 15856.14 | + 2.63 |
| Shanghai Index | 2379.87 | + 1.38 |
| FTSE 100 Index | 3943.26 | + 0.45 |
| DAX Index | 4395.17 | + 0.86 |
| DJIA futures | 7841 | + 0.62 |
| Nasdaq futures | 1305.5 | + 0.54 |
| World Markets | Current Level | % Change |
| Gold | 883.18 | + 0.30 |
| Silver | 12.31 | + 0.24 |
| VIX | 38.85 | - 3.81 |
| Crude wti | 50.85 | + 2.98 |
| USD Index | 85.176 | - 0.22 |
| Todays Calender | Estimates | Previous | Country / GMT |
| Inidustrial Production (German) | -3.0% | -7.5% | GER / 10:00 |
| BoE Interest Rate Decision | 0.5% | 0.5% | UK / 11:00 |
| Initial Jobless Claims | 660K | 669K | US / 12:30 |
Currency Tech
AUDUSD
R 3: 0.7170
R 2: 0.7149
R 1: 0.7129
CURRENT: 0.7116
S 1: 0.7100
S 2: 0.7054
S 3: 0.7033
EURJPY
R 3: 134.00
R 2: 133.56
R 1: 133.17
CURRENT: 132.95
S 1: 132.69
S 2: 131.62
S 3: 130.98
USDSGD
R 3: 1.5220
R 2: 1.5197
R 1: 1.5165
CURRENT: 1.5152
S 1: 1.5140
S 2: 1.5112
S 3: 1.5055
- S: Strong, M: Minor, T: Trendline, K: Keylevel, P: Pivot
