(RTTNews) - Analysts at westpac noted on Monday that even though the public holiday in Japan kept G7 markets quiet, solid Asian equity markets supported risk appetite today, with risk/commodity-linked currencies edging higher.

Traders favored riskier currencies such as Australian and New Zealand dollars that rose as high as 1.0023 and and 0.7343 against the US dollar, respectively. While the EUR/USD exhibited range-bound trading between 1.4160 and 1.4190, the Canadian dollar gained some ground to reach a high of 0.9800.

The USD/JPY hit a high of 81.04 in Asia. Analysts are of the view that the pair will show weakness with little economic data to consider this evening. News from Japan and Libya may drive risk sentiment in London and New York trading.

Asian currencies were generally firmer as regional equities mostly followed Wall Street’s positive lead. USD/KRW that tested above 1128 traded mostly choppy around 1125, as the Kospi added 0.7 percent. USD/SGD traded around 1.2730-40 in early Asian session and then slid to 1.2690 in the Singapore morning as Singapore Dollar’s Nominal Effective Exchange Rate increased to 2.5 percent against the Monetary Authority of Singapore policy band midpoint, although still well below the pre-Japan earthquake level of 3 percent. The Malaysian Ringgit rose about 0.4 percent to a high of 3.03.

USD/PHP edged down 0.4% to 43.56 as Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Tetangco repeated his warning that the central bank has less scope for keeping rates steady despite a likely negative impact from the Japanese disaster. Traders paid little attention to the Peoples Bank of China’s adviser Li Daokui comments that the USD could fall “sharply” over the next three years due to high federal and state debt. The USD/CNY was mildly lower today.

by RTT Staff Writer

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Tags : Commodity
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