Australian, N.Z. Dollars Strengthen as Stocks, Commodities Gain

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The Australian and New Zealand dollars rose against Japan’s currency, rebounding from one-month lows, as stock gains and higher commodities prices spurred demand for higher-yielding assets.

The currencies snapped four-day losing streaks versus the yen after government reports today showed home-building approvals in Australia and New Zealand increased in November, suggesting interest-rate cuts are helping combat slowdowns in the two nations’ economies.

“With equity and commodity markets steady, we are expecting the Aussie to find some support after its recent slide,” said Nick Jonas, a Brisbane-based treasury analyst at Suncorp-Metway Ltd., referring to Australia’s currency by its nickname.

Australia’s dollar rose to 67.95 U.S. cents as of 5:05 p.m. in Sydney from 67.03 cents late in Asia yesterday. It touched 65.76 cents, the lowest level since Dec. 12. The currency climbed to 61.01 yen from 59.78 yen, after sliding to 58.55 yen.

New Zealand’s dollar advanced to 55.80 U.S. cents from 55.45 cents in Asia yesterday. It earlier fell as low as 54.62 cents, the weakest since Dec. 15. The currency strengthened to 50.10 yen from 49.44 yen.

The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index of regional shares gained 1.1 percent, after sliding 7 percent in the previous four days. The Reuters/Jeffries CRB Index of 19 raw materials advanced 0.7 percent yesterday, after a 4.1 percent drop on Jan. 12.

From Bloomberg News.

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Here is the combined forex news excerpts from dowjones.com and rttnews.com

The euro and dollar were little changed against the yen in Asia Thursday, although they appeared poised to resume recent their downtrend as players stood on the sidelines ahead of the European Central Bank's rate decision later in the day.

"Because global stock prices are falling and economic indicators (from the U.S. and Europe) are unfavorable recently, many players want to sell" both the euro and dollar, said Yuji Saito, head of FX Group at Societe Generale.

But players were still in a wait-and-see mood during Asian trading hours because they want to get a better idea of how equity markets will react to the ECB's policy rate decision.
In Asian trading Thursday, the impact of short-term-focused players' euro and dollar selling was canceled out by buying from European and other non-Japanese banks, some dealers said. "The euro and other units have been relatively stable in Asia these days due to European and other banks' debt finance," said Hideki Amikura, a senior dealer at Nomura Trust and Banking.

As regards the Indian market on Thursday is trading sharply lower on account of profit taking and weak cues from overseas markets following a rally on Wednesday. Stocks across the sectors are coming under selling pressure. Realty, IT, banking, metal and oil/gas are leading the decliners

Source:http://forexdailyupdates.blogspot.com/