Asia Session Recap

Daily Forex Fundamentals | Written by Forex.com | Aug 06 08 05:39 GMT |

The Euro was resuscitated is the Asia Session, after hitting a multi-week low of 1.5444 less than 24 hours ago. Opening the session, the pair bottomed out near 1.5450 and then took the escalator up. EUR/USD eventually hit a high just a pip or two under 1.5500 and looked strong as the session wound down. It would seem that the overall enthusiasm from yesterday's big moves in NY have all but died down. Asian stock markets followed the Wall Street lead and thus led to heavy buying in the Yen crosses, as EUR/JPY spent the session going up….After a start near 167.30 the pair never looked back as it reached highs just under the 168.00 level. GBP/JPY shadowed the move although it seemed to fizzle near the end. A low of 211.45 early on gave way to a 212.15 high toward mid session, and following a slight retracement was clawing its way back to those levels by the London open.

USD/JPY hit a 7 week high just near 108.45, as the US Dollar continued to enjoy the benefits of lower crude oil. The resistance just above at 108.60 is just waiting to defend its ground. With much of Europe vacationing this month, the Japanese will follow suite soon as the Obon Festival begins next week, and although not a national holiday, many folks go on vacation during this particular time. The point of the preceding culture lesson is that you can expect some significant position squaring ahead of what may be a thin trading week during Obon.

With the fall of commodities, so went the Aussie, but after touching a four month low of 0.9132 just yesterday, the pair found some traction and clawed its way higher this session to a high just above 0.9185. Although this may look encouraging at first glance, don't be fooled, it is widely expected that the RBA will begin an easing cycle sooner than later, and with the fall of oil and commodities, expect the overbought pair to remain under some severe pressure.

Continue to look at the link between lower oil, higher US stocks and Dollar strength…

Upcoming Economic Data Releases (London Session):
8/6/2008 9:30GMT UK BRC July Shop Price Index 6-Aug
8/6/2008 10:00GMT GE Factory Orders MoM (sa) JUN -0.90% 0.40%
8/6/2008 10:00GMT GE Factory Orders YoY (nsa) JUN -2.00% -4.70%

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