- Asian session:
Market news
18 March 2011
Asian session:
Data:
05:00 Japan Leading Economic Index (Jan) 101.5
05:00 Japan Coincident Index (Jan) 105.9
The yen tumbled the most in more than two years against the dollar as the Group of Seven nations said they will jointly intervene in foreign-exchange markets for the first time in more than a decade.
Japan’s currency slumped against all its major counterparts as Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said his country had started the effort and each G-7 nation would intervene when its market opened. The G-7 finance ministers and central bank chiefs said in a statement after a conference call today on the impact of the March 11 earthquake they would “provide any needed cooperation.”
The Australian and New Zealand dollars rose as a rally in Japanese shares boosted demand for higher-yield assets.
Japan unilaterally sold more than 2 trillion yen ($24.4 billion) in foreign-exchange markets in September to stem gains, its first intervention since 2004. The Bank of Japan today added 4 trillion yen to the financial system, bringing its emergency fund injections this week to 38 trillion yen.
EUR/USD: the pair shown high in the field of $1.4090.
GBP/USD: the pair bargained within the limits of $1.6100-$ 1,6200.
USD/JPY: the pair shown high in the field of Y82.00.
At 1000GMT, the EMU trade balance is expected to come in at a seasonally-adjusted -E3.7 billion from the previous month's -E2.3 billion.
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