Asian session forex traders took cues from the previous session and took some profits off ahead of today’s top-tier releases.

  • New Zealand trade deficit narrows to 1.14B NZD from 1.18B NZD figure in August
  • Japan’s services producer price index up by 0.9% vs. 0.8% expected and previous
  • Australia’s import prices (q/q) down by 1.6% vs. 1.5% decline expected, -0.1% previous

Major Events/Reports:

New Zealand’s trade data

Data printed early in the session showed New Zealand clocking in a narrower trade deficit in September.

It clocked in a 1.14B NZD deficit for the month, which is higher than the expected 900M NZD shortfall but is still better than August’s downwardly revised 1.18M NZD deficit.

Exports grew by 8.9% from a year earlier in September thanks mostly to higher milk powder, butter, and cheese exports and more shipments to China and Japan. It’s slightly down from August’s 9.0% uptick though. Meanwhile, imports only advanced by 1.4% due to a sharp decrease in shipments from the U.S.

Unfortunately for Kiwi bulls, market players mostly shrugged off the stronger-than-expected news when the forex grapevines heard of NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s plans to renegotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement in in two weeks to allow the government to ban foreign buyers from buying New Zealand homes. Yikes!

Mixed trading day

With not a lot of fresh catalysts from the U.S., traders had time to take profits from their latest positions. Specifically, less-than-stellar earnings report took a toll on U.S. equities and dragged the Greenback with it.

The Asian bourses mostly shrugged off the risk off vibes:

  • Gold took advantage of the dollar retracement as it gained 0.17% to $1,281.17 and
  • Silver rose by 0.51% to $17.011 but risk aversion dragged
  • Brent crude oil by 0.15% to $58.35 and
  • U.S. crude oil prices by 0.17% to $52.09.

Meanwhile, commodity prices reacted to the profit-taking and dollar weakness themes.

  • Nikkei is still up by 0.30% to 21,761.00;
  • Australia’s A SX 200 is up by 0.25% to 5,907.20;
  • China’s A50 is up by 0.96% to 12,642.81, and
  • Hang Seng is down by 0.23% to 28,238.50.

Major Market Mover(s):

USD

A bit of profit-taking ahead of this week’s other top-tier reports and possibly a Fed Governor announcement for Trump took its toll on the low-yielding dollar.

EUR/USD is up by 23 pips (+0.20%) to 1.1826;
USD/JPY is down by 23 pips (-0.20%) to 113.52;
USD/CHF is down by 10 pips (-0.10%) to .9889, and
AUD/USD is up by 12 pips (+0.16%) to .7710.

Watch Out For:

  • 6:00 am GMT: Germany’s GfK consumer climate to remain at 10.8?
  • 7:00 am GMT: Spain’s unemployment rate (16.6% expected, 17.2% previous)
  • 10:00 am GMT: U.K. CBI realized sales (14 expected, 42 previous)
  • All eyes on the ECB’s decision. Read Forex Gump’s trading guide if you’re trading the event!