Asia Session

Asian equities picked up where the US stock market left off, with most indices falling lower, led by the Nikkei's drop of 2.5% and followed by investors fleeing from riskier positions thus boosting both the Dollar and the Yen. Traders fled from risky assets like cockroaches scampering from a light being switched on, pushing the Yen to strong gains against the dollar and most notably the Aussie and Kiwi Dollars as fears that the current economic malaise is far from over. USD/JPY made dynamic moves in Asia, flying through various support levels to hit a 96.53 low after a drop totaling almost 140 pips for the day.
Murmurs that tomorrow's US data including industrial production and housing starts might be unsavory helped push USD/JPY lower, and the move was further exacerbated when the BoJ left rates unchanged at .10%. Although the BoJ surprised no one by leaving its rate untouched, the BoJ followed up the move by stating that,''...economic conditions, after deteriorating significantly, have begun to stop worsening'', thus adding more fuel to the Yen moves higher. AUD/JPY saw a significant drop of nearly 165 pips, from 77.81 down to 76.16, and not to be left behind, NZD/JPY followed with a 130 pip drop from 61.73 to just under 60.45.

Although looking weak against the Yen, the Greenback made slight gains initially, but seemed to stumble late in the session against the Euro. EUR/USD, tumbling out of the gate hit a 1.3748 low, a level not seen since late May, before pushing back up over 1.3820 near sessions end despite uncertainties that still facing the Euro Zone economy. The Dollar did make up ground against the Pound, as the GBP/USD dropped from 1.63210 highs to lows under the 1.62200 level before stabilizing closer to 1.62700. As well as falling to the Yen, the Aussie and Kiwi both also fell against the Dollar as commodity prices continued to drift lower. Amidst the uncertainty, spot gold bounced from a 4 week low of $925.25 to breech the $932.85 per ounce level. Traders should be prepared for a good deal of data to be released later in the London markets...

Upcoming Economic Data Releases (London Session) prior expected