CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Risk currencies have fallen in Asian trading on Thursday in response to Australia's disappointing employment data, Westpac analysts said.
AUD/USD that traded in a range of 1.0238/60 ahead of the jobs data gaped initially from 1.0240 to 1.0210 immediately after the release of the employment numbers and further slid to 1.0185.
NZD/USD that initially squeezed to 0.7982 in early deals after the ANZ consumer confidence index pulled back to 0.7956 before the release of the Australian data. Amid the data, NZD/USD was further sold-off and hit as low as 0.7936.
Both AUD/USD and NZD/USD resumed their decline in late trading and touched lows of 1.0163 and 0.7915, respectively.
The firm noted that the yen's move was also interesting today, with USD/JPY falling from 79.76 at the open to 79.56 ahead of the Bank of Japan's policy announcement. USD/JPY that spiked up to 79.97 following the outcome of the Japanese central bank erased its gains shortly and fell back to 79.75 as the market digested what amounted to no overall increase in stimulus, reaching the day's low of 79.43 and continues to remain under pressure.
EUR/USD and GBP/USD traded in choppy and directionless 1.2224/49 and 1.5486/19 ranges, respectively.
Elsewhere, Asian currencies have weakened across the board today, the firm noted.
The South Korean Won was hit hard after the Bank of Korea surprised market, with only 2 out of 16 economists expecting a cut. The 1-month USD/KRW non-deliverable forwards pushed up towards the 1154 level this afternoon, up 0.85 percent from the New York close.
According to Westpac, today's rate cut by the Bank of Korea could help put a bottom in place for USD/KRW. Analysts also see risks of a move back towards the 1180 level over the coming period.
Elsewhere, USD/SGD has pushed higher, with the pair back up to the 1.2690 level. Tomorrow's second quarter GDP print from Singapore will be important, with the market looking for a modest improvement on the first quarter numbers. The firm said that this will be overshadowed by China's second quarter GDP data, for which market expectations have been steadily lowered over the course of this week. The firm expects a 7.3 percent year-over-year growth, but anything above 7.5 percent is likely to see no change or drive a small bounce in risk appetite.
Other Asian currencies have been weaker today, albeit to a lesser extent than Korean won.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
