USDJPY hits new 2010 low
July 30, 2010

Currency Tech

EURUSD
R 2: 1.3286
R 1: 1.3140
CURRENT: 1.3077
S 1: 1.2958
S 2: 1.2870

USDJPY
R 2: 87.52
R 1: 87.24
CURRENT: 86.48
S 1: 86.25
S 2: 86.00

GBPUSD
R 2: 1.5834
R 1: 1.5730
CURRENT: 1.5632
S 1: 1.5543
S 2: 1.5496

AUDUSD
R 2: 0.9126
R 1: 0.9080
CURRENT: 0.9014
S 1: 0.8960
S 2: 0.8907

Market Brief
Asian equity markets have opened in the red this morning, this of course following the US equities’ highly volatile and lower closing yesterday (the Dow closed -0.30% lower, after touching an intraday low of 10387). The Nikkei was trading -1.64% lower on a combo of weaker data emerging from Japan earlier in the morning. Data showed that the Japanese jobless rate was a tick higher than expectations showing a reading of 5.3% act v 5.2% exp. Housing starts in Japan dropped to 0.6% v an expected 1.8% and both industrial production and construction orders dropped; MoM industrial production was at -1.5% act v 0.2% exp/0.1% prev, YoY industrial production dropped to 17.0% from an expected 18.9% (previous was 20.4% while construction orders came in at -10.2% v a previous reading of 9.2%. Japanese CPI were largely in line with expectations, with the national CPI at -0.7% act v -0.7% exp/-0.9% prev. The YoY Tokyo CPI was a touch weaker at -1.2% act v -0.8% exp/-0.9% prev. The myriad of weaker data has the Nikkei selling off and the rest of Asia lethargic. And as expected, the Yen’s strong inverse correlation with the Japanese equity markets continues with the Yen gaining ground for a third consecutive day against the USD, hitting a new 2010 yearly low of 86.25 before recovering to currently trade around 86.50 levels. The gains have been similar against the EUR, with EURJPY trading a touch above 113.00 levels. The Yen continues to bask in its safe haven status and we will be keenly watching if and how aggresively the USDJPY approaches that 2010 low of 86.25 again.

Earlier in the morning, data from Australia showed that private sector credit failed to live up to expectations, with the MoM reading at 0.2% act v 0.4% exp/0.5% prev and the YoY at 2.8% act v 3.1% exp/2.7% prev. The poor lending data from this morning, coupled with the weaker CPI reading from earlier in the week only strengthens the views that the RBA is closer to leaving rates unchanged as opposed to hiking rates at their next meeting.

Next up we have the unemployment reading & CPI estimate from the Euro-zone followed by the GDP readings from the US and Canada just before US market opening.

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