A strong rally in the JPY against the USD and the crosses was the key theme of the Asian session with the USD weakness against the JPY helping to underpin EUR and GBP which both marginally extended the trend higher seen on Wednesday before both currencies reversed gains ahead of the London open. USD-JPY fell from Tokyo opening levels of 97.46, triggering stops in the move to 95.96 lows. EUR-JPY dropped from morning highs of 124.87 to lows of 123.36. EUR-USD, which opened at 1.2800, rallied to highs of 1.2871 before dropping back to 1.2805 in the afternoon. Cable rallied from 1.3836 at the Tokyo open to highs of 1.3924 before falling back to 1.3850. AUD-USD continues to be contained by option plays which helped capped gains but AUD was also pressured by the rise in unemployment to 5.2%, to four year highs. NZD-USD rallied from 0.5060 to highs of 0.5144 after the RBNZ cut rates by 50 bp since some in the market had been expecting a 75 bp rate cut. But, the late slide in AUD, EUR and GBP helped drag Kiwi back to 0.5109 in the afternoon. Asian stocks were broadly lower with the Nikkei pressured by falling exporter stocks in response to the stronger JPY. U.S. bond yields eased on stock losses and after Realty data showing a further rise in U.S. foreclosures, up 6% in February. NYMEX crude held around $43 bouncing only slightly after the sell-off in NY. The Bank of Korea kept rates steady at record lows of 2.00%.
