Asia was split today with the Nikkei not managing to move out of first gear – at least during the Asia session – but saw the Yen lose its haven status. The volatile Japanese data for Machinery Orders was released better than the 3.1% expected figure at +6.7% (against a previous -5.1%) did not really […]

  In the earliest days of the Republic Rome’s taxes were quite modest, and were not direct, but were a property tax or a wealth tax on all forms of property, including land, houses, slaves, animals, money and personal effects. The basic rate was just 1% and sometimes it would occasionally rise to 3%. This was to fund the […]

All core Asian indices closed higher today even as energy prices fell another 1% in todays trading. The Nikkei, Hang Seng and Shanghai all closed +0.5% firmer on the day. Currencies were well behaved with the JPY playing around the 112 figure for the majority of the day. The dollar index (DXY) broke above the […]

Given that we saw the US markets retreat mid-session from early highs, in Asia many were concerned the full enthusiasm is yet to arrive. As equity markets took a side-step gold was the main talking point after its near $20 rally in late US trading. The flight to quality also saw the JPY retest old […]

After a successful Non-Farms number on Friday, Asia followed suit encouraged along by the US markets closing near their days highs. All core Asian indices followed but with the exception of the ASX (Australian exchange) which closed small lower as the currency made ground. The Nikkei made ground closing +0.35% higher but could have been […]

One of the main topics of conversation overnight was the fact that the Shanghai market reopened, after the week long holiday, to a surprise reverse-repo hike (10bp’s to 2.35%) which resulted in a -0.6% decline in the Shanghai Index. The CNH traded back up through the 6.82 mark but in late US trade saw core […]

Another weak session for the Nikkei but also the Hang Seng came under pressure given global large cap weakness. The JPY saw another reach as a safe-haven with almost another handle change down to 111. However, despite coming close we have not yet traded there today. Dealer were expressing concerns on the move Presidents Trump’s […]

We saw another weak session today for stocks in Japan as the BOJ kept its position on monetary policy unchanged but selling pressure continued. The main concern remains centred around the US action for immigration despite the explanations offered. The USD lost its safe-haven bid with JPY strength resulting in a push closely breaching the […]

Asian markets were weaker today with many Traders explaining that the reason for the market jitters was around President Trumps immigration policy and the consequent rally in the safe-haven currencies such as US Dollar and the Japanese Yen. The Nikkei lost around -0.50% despite the fact that volumes were heavily reduced with many of the […]

A quiet market for many in Asia ahead of Chinese New Year and the subsequent national holidays. In Japan the inflation data was marginally better than previous (+0.1% v’s prev. +0%) which helped the Nikkei add additional gains but were slowed somewhat by Consumer Price data. However, this had an effect on the JPY which […]