Forex Today: Aussie – a big mover in Asia, a light calendar ahead

An eventless Asian session kicked-off yet another holiday-thinned week, as slowing volumes and irregular volatility persisted heading into the New Year break. There were no major macro news reported, excepted for the Chinese industrial profits and China’s Beige Book Survey, which had little impact on the fx space.

The Aussie emerged the top performer, gaining the most amid a broadly subdued USD and the recent strength in commodities’ prices. The Kiwi also followed suit while the Yen traded on the back foot, as yesterday’s comments from BOJ Kuroda offset a string of upbeat Japanese economic data.

Among other related markets, the Asian stocks traded mostly mixed, while gold prices hold near 3-week tops of $ 1288.40. WTI eased-off multi-year tops to trade below the $ 60 mark.

Main topics in Asia

BoJ’s Kuroda: Will patiently maintain powerful monetary easing

Reuters came out with the latest comments from the BoJ Governor Kuroda, delivered yesterday at the Keindanren (Japan Business Federation) in Tokyo.

Gold reaches 3-week high amid thin trading

Gold has built on recent gains, currently trading at $1,282.00, following a resurgence in demand amid thin liquidity conditions. 

China's November industrial profit growth slowest since April

China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on its website on Wednesday, the country’s profits for industrial firms rose at a sharply slower pace last month, in response to weaker demand and price pressures.

China Q4 economic trends point to slowdown in 2018 - China Beige Book survey

Reuters reports the key highlights from the quarterly survey of thousands of Chinese firms conducted by China Beige Book International (CBB) on Wednesday.

Key Focus ahead

The EUR calendar remains absolutely dry, except for the UK high street lending data, Swiss UBS consumption indicator, and Credit Suisse Economic Expectations report. Hence, all eyes remain on the US CB consumer confidence and pending home sales data for near-term trading opportunities.

EUR/USD: Consolidation near mid-1.18s to extend ahead of US data

The EUR/USD pair continued to find support near 1.1850 levels amid thin liquidity conditions, now looking to retain the bids as attention turns towards the key US datasets due on the cards later today.

GBP/USD to stay below 1.3400 amid thin markets

The GBP/USD pair witnessed some volatility in the Asian trades amid the withdraw in liquidity, although traded well within the familiar 30-pips range below 1.34 handle.

UK: Will a two or three year transition period be long enough? - ING

A big fear of Brexit-supporting ministers is that the transition period could lead to an indefinite period where the UK is neither in nor out of the EU, according to analysts at ING.

Japan: Main items of interest for 2018 - Nomura

According to Nomura's Economics Team, in the early stages of 2018, the focus will be on BOJ policy, with no changes in the main scenario expected, adding that upside risks associated with spring labor negotiations and growth strategies exist.