Asia Session Recap

Daily Forex Fundamentals | Written by Forex.com | Aug 04 08 05:45 GMT |

The Dollar traded mixed today for the start of the week in Asia, but nonetheless held its gains from last week in a painfully slow trading session. The EUR/USD opened the new week a bit higher and as the session progressed the pair made moderate moves to a high just above 1.5590. A quick pullback brought the pair to its current levels, (as of this writing) of right at 1.5580. 1.5553 was the low for the session. In the EUR/JPY, the Yen suffered from retail investor selling as the theme was risk reduction ahead of this weeks' decisions by the Fed, ECB, RBA, and BoE. Obviously as far as rate decisions go, this coming week is jam-packed, and the markets may be subdued in lieu of this. USD/JPY made a move north as again the Yen was victim, the pair was at the 107.50 level mid-session, but took off to levels near 107.80 as the session closed. After being battered all last week the AUD/USD actually bounced back a little for the start of this week. After touching a 0.9285 low, the pair looked rehabbed as it reached highs near 0.9330, but with the carry trades looking shaky and the market expecting dovish commentary from Tuesday's RBA meeting, expect this pair to make some moves. GBP/USD was choppy, but net for the night was down as rumors that a major bank was set to announce a loss that would be second to none. Cable ended the session near its lows at 1.9735. Obviously the main focus of the week will be all of the rate decisions due this week. Although no changes are expected by the Fed, ECB, BoE or RBA, the markets are always very sensitive to these announcements and the tone and language surrounding them Upcoming Economic Data Releases (London Session): 8/4/2008 UK HBOS House Price 3Mths/Year JUL -6.10% -8.60% 8/4/2008 UK HBOS Plc house prices sa (MoM) JUL -2.00% -1.50% 8/4/2008 7:30 SZ SVME-Purchasing Managers Index JUL 54.9 53.6 8/4/2008 8:30 UK PMI Construction JUL 38.8 37.5 8/4/2008 8:30 EC Sentix Investor Confidence AUG -9.3 -10 8/4/2008 9:00 EC Euro-Zone PPI (MoM) JUN 1.20% 0.80% 8/4/2008 9:00 EC Euro-Zone PPI (YoY) JUN 7.10% 7.90% Forex.com http://www.forex.com DISCLAIMER: The information and opinions in this report are for general information use only and are not intended as an offer or solicitation with respect to the purchase of sale of any currency. All opinions and information contained in this report are subject to change without notice. This report has been prepared without regard to the specific investment objectives, financial situation and needs of any particular recipient. While the information contained herein was obtained from sources believed to be reliable, author does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness, nor does author assume any liability for any direct, indirect or consequential loss that may result from the reliance by any person upon any such information or opinions.