The USD was steady in Asian trading with the USD holding in the middle of this week’s range for most currency pairs and with a lack of fresh impetus to spur on any directional bias in Asian dealings. USD/JPY held a tight range of 95.63-96.00 from the Tokyo open, and failed to make any serious attempt to target large stops under 95.50 and also failed to react to the 1.70% slide in the Nikkei. EUR/USD pivoted around 1.3950 with a range of 1.3927-1.3974 traded while GBP/USD pivoted around 1.6400, with a range of 1.6346 to 1.6430 on the day. Along with the Nikkei, most Asian stock markets were lower. Treasury yields saw marginal gains though were basically unchanged. NYMEX crude held above $71 in Asia after more Nigerian pipeline attacks and a forecast from T. Boone Pickens that oil would be $80-$85. Of note was the talk from Tokyo traders and confirmed by data that Japanese retail FX margin accounts now have the largest JPY cross positions in a month or even longer in some cases.
</p>