* Gold has rallied again today, up +16 to US$4,500.50 a new high.. * Whilst overnight US data may ha...
Find more articles and bullets on these widgets:
Oil is little changed on Monday after falling around 1.5% on Friday on optimism that current talks will result in a Ukraine peace and an easing of sanctions on Russian fuel. US, Ukraine, Europe talks continue today in Switzerland. The White House said earlier today that Ukraine’s concerns with its plan have been addressed but Russia may not accept a revised proposal. Crude is in a narrow range while it monitors developments, especially as it is nervous about more global supply at a time of a market surplus.
A modest rebound in major bourses today from last week's losses with the KOSPI in focus as with Japan out. The moves in USTs Friday resulted in cautious optimism for a December rate cut with the probability rising dramatically from a week ago. With all the focus on tech sector in Korea, a strong day for the industrials following the news that Korean ship builders secured large ship orders and the Seoul bus operator Chunil which is set to benefit from an announced redevelopment of its Seoul station . The tech sector is up also the usual suspects SK Hynix and Samsung gaining 2-3%. The Hang Seng delivered strong gains today with stock specific news the key drivers including the inclusion of new stocks and analyst recommendations. Onshore bourses all fell with some market commentary suggesting that the verbal spat between Japan and China over Taiwan was weighing on sentiment.

The BBDXY has had a range today of 1226.60 - 1227.70 in the Asia-Pac session; it is currently trading around 1226, +0.05%. The USD stalled toward 1230 heading into the weekend, this morning risk has opened strongly but with Japan out the reaction has been pretty muted. While the price remains above 1223/24 I would be skewed toward expressing a long, looking for a retest of the 1230-1240 area at some point. A move back through this support and the USD is back in the 1210/15-1230/35 range.
Fig 1: GBP/USD Spot Daily Chart

Source: MNI - Market News/Bloomberg Finance L.P