Thin trading volumes mark the day as major trading hubs remain close!
- Japan retail sales y/y -1.0% vs. -0.10%
- Japan preliminary industrial production m/m -1.0% vs. -0.40%
The markets opened today after closing on Thursday last week with thin trading throughout the day. The Asian session saw the Japanese retail sales numbers decline -1.0% against estimates of a decline of only -0.10%, while the preliminary industrial production fell -1.0% below estimates of -0.40%. The Japanese Yen was trading mixed today as USDJPY is up 0.13% at the time of writing. Price posted a steady rally into the mid-day touching in intraday high near 120.60 before easing back lower. With strong resistance established near 120.74 – 120.6, only a break above this level will offer any hopes for a stronger rally to 121.25 which marks the next resistance level. To the downside, a break below Thursday’s lower near 120.280 could see further declines on the horizon.
The Australian dollar was also trading soft and is down -0.12% at the time of writing. Price remains range bound off Thursday’s price action as AUDUSD touched down to an intraday low at 0.7255 before bouncing back modestly higher. The NZDUSD is flat at the time of writing, up 0.01%. Prices have been bouncing off the days high and low near 0.6848 and 0.6824.
The European session was quiet with no major releases due from Europe or the UK. Markets in the UK were closed on account of Boxing Day holiday. However, the EURUSD continued to trend higher as the currency touched the highs of 1.09923 before easing back lower. At the time of writing, EURUSD is up 0.15% and is likely to see a second consecutive day of gains after prices touched the lows near 1.0869 last week.
The GBPUSD is weaker, down -0.20% at the time of writing. Prices posted an intraday high near 1.493 before giving back the modest gains. The decline in GBPUSD comes after two straight days of gains as the Cable posted a strong reversal off the lows near 1.48.
The NY trading session is also likely to remain thin with the US markets closed today. USDCAD is up 0.16% after prices continued to post a three day decline which saw USDCAD touch down to 13825 lows in early trading this morning.
On the commodity front, WTI Crude Oil is seeing a weaker day today, down -2.55% trading near $37 a barrel. The declines come about after nearly 5 days of gains from last week. Gold prices were also weaker today, down -0.43% trading near $1071 an ounce as Gold prices continued to fall steadily since the start.
With no major news events scheduled for the remainder of the evening, the markets are likely to consolidate ahead of a normal market opening tomorrow, which is however marked with no economic releases.
