[B]Market Review[/B] - 29/01/2014 [I]21:54GMT [/I]
[B]Yen rises to a 7-week high on risk aversion after Fed cuts bond buying to 65B[/B]
Although U.S. dollar rose initially above Wednesday’s high of 103.26 to 103.45 against the Japanese yen in Australia, active cross-buying of yen pressured capped intra-day gain there and price later tumbled to 101.99 in New York morning as concerns over global emerging markets lingered ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy statement. Later, the greenback dropped to a session low of 101.85 on renewed risk aversion due to the selloff in U.S. stock market after Fed kept interest rate unchanged n reduced bond buying to $65B as widely expected.
The Fed announced a further $10 billion reduction in its monthly bond buying to $65 billion as widely expected as it stuck to plans to wind down its extraordinary stimulus. The Dow Jones industrial average, S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite closed down 189.77 points (1.19%) to 15738.79, 18.3 points (1.02%) to 1774.2, and 46.53 points (1.14%) to 4051.43 respectively.
The single currency swung widely on Wednesday as despite rebounding from Asian low at 1.3648 to 1.3684 in European morning due to unexpected rise in Germany’s Gfk consumer climate going into February, cross-selling of euro pressured price lower from there and euro tanked to a session low of 1.3603 versus dollar after European Central Bank council member Christian Noyer said ‘any rise in the currency’s exchange rate would be negative.’ Later, the single currency rebounded strongly in New York morning to 1.3677 on short-covering and then stabilized.
On the data front, Germany’s Gfk consumer climate rose to its highest level since August 2007 to 8.2, from 7.7 in the preceding month whose figure was revised up from 7.6.
Although cable traded sideways in Asia after finding support at 1.6561 in Australia, price rebounded to 1.6607 in tandem with euro in European morning but only to drop to 1.6526 in part due to renewed cross-selling of sterling versus euro in New York morning before recovering. Eur/gbp cross dropped briefly below Tuesday’s low at 0.8223 to 0.8220 in Wednesday’s New York morning and then recovered.
The New Zealand dollar nose-dived to 0.8177 after RBNZ kept interest rate unchanged at 2.5%. RBNZ said expects to start returning rates to more normal levels soon n will raise rates as needed to keep inflation near 2%. RBNZ said scale, speed of rate rises will depend on future data; high NZ dollar offsetting inflation but current levels unsustainable in long run; price pressures rising over next two years; housing market appears to be moderating; expects GDP to continue around 3.5% over coming year; sees uncertainty about stimulus with drawal by major economies, EM economies affected.
[B]Data to be released on Thursday:
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Japan retail sales, China HSBC manufacturing PMI, Swiss KOF indicator, Germany unemployment rate, U.K mortgage approvals, EU business climate, economic sentiment, consumer confidence, Germany CPI, HICP, U.S. annual GDP, PCE core, personal consumption, jobless claims and pending home sales.