Risk appetite drove currencies such as EUR and AUD higher against both the USD and JPY in Asian trading on Monday, fostered by the better-than-expected ISM result and the rise in the Michigan sentiment index. Further ammunition for the risk appeal came from the news from Mexico that flu cases were declining and the release of CLSA China PMI that showed a rise over 50.0, signaling expansion in manufacturing. Late in the Asian session, Indian PMI also rose above the key 50.0 level to a seven month high. EUR-USD rallied off morning lows of 1.3279 to highs of 1.3346 before retreating on profit-taking. AUD-USD hit seven month highs of 0.7390. However, with Japan out until Thursday due to Golden Week holidays, price action was very contained on USD-JPY with a range of 99.12-99.57. Asian stock markets were broadly higher on the improved global growth outlook with Taiwan rising over 6%. Oil held around $53 but base metals, copper and zinc were limit up. Treasuries were static due to Japan’s absence.