It
was a day of minor movement only for major forex rates. AUD, NZD,
EUR, GBP and even the hapless yen all gained a few points against the
USD. Ranges were lacklustre though and such moves can be easily
reversed as European liquidity arrives.

News
flow of market relevance was very light, and data releases were
lower-tier only. Japanese unemployment ticked up but remains at a
very low level.

Regional
equity markets traded higher following on from the better session on
Wall Street.

Asian
equity markets:

• Japan’s Nikkei 225 +0.17%

• China’s Shanghai Composite +0.6%

• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng +1.7%

• South Korea’s KOSPI +0.4%

• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 +0.4%

The People’s Bank of China once again set the yuan reference rate 10 big figures away from the modelled estimate, supporting the local currency.

Offshore yuan: