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The US Dollar (via DXY Index) is starting Friday’s session in Asia on its back boot, retesting its rising trendline from the September 8, September 20, and October 13 lows. While there weren’t any significant data releases in the previous session, a further pullback in US Treasury yields weighed on the greenback; interest rate sensitive pairs like USD/JPY traded lower around the dip in yields.
The Australian Dollar’s gains from Thursday came on the back of a mixed but generally positive September Australian jobs report, as well another ‘not too hot, not too cold’ Chinese GDP report for the third quarter. Its antipodean neighbor, the New Zealand Dollar, saw its losses from Thursday spill over into Friday trading as investors continued to express unease over the direction newly-minted prime minister Jacinda Ardern might take the country’s economic policies.
DailyFX Economic Calendar: Friday, October 20, 2017 – Asian-Pacific Releases
The Asian-Pacific calendar is quieter on Friday than it was yesterday, with neither any Australian nor Chinese data due. The only ‘high’ importance event comes from Japan, where Bank of Japan Governor Kuroda will speaking. But traders will be quick to turn their attention to preparing for the weekend elections in Japan, where indications are suggesting that current Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his LDP-led coalition will cement their grip on power. Given that the hallmark of the Abe-era has been Japanese Yen weakness, any result other than an LDP-led coalition holding a supermajority in the Lower House of the National Diet
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DailyFX Webinar Calendar: Friday, October 20, 2017
IG Client Sentiment Index Chart of the Day: Spot Gold
Learn more about the IG Client Sentiment Index on the DailyFX Sentiment page
Spot Gold: Retail trader data shows 79.1% of traders are net-long with the ratio of traders long to short at 3.79 to 1. The number of traders net-long is 2.6% higher than yesterday and 6.1% lower from last week, while the number of traders net-short is 6.3% lower than yesterday and 9.0% higher from last week.
We typically take a contrarian view to crowd sentiment, and the fact traders are net-long suggests Spot Gold prices may continue to fall. Positioning is more net-long than yesterday but less net-long from last week. The combination of current sentiment and recent changes gives us a further mixed Spot Gold trading bias.
Five Things Traders are Reading
- “Flightless Bird NZD Sinks To Bottom While USD Stays Strong: SW Report” by Tyler Yell, CMT, Forex Trading Instructor
- “USD Price Action Setups Ahead of ECB (EUR/USD)” by James Stanley, Currency Strategist
- “USD/CAD Battle Lines Drawn Ahead of Canada CPI” by Michael Boutros, Currency Strategist
- “Gold Prices Snap Bearish Sequence Ahead of More Fed Rhetoric” by David Song, Currency Analyst
- “US Dollar Taking Cues from Other Major Currencies” by Christopher Vecchio, CFA, Senior Currency Strategist
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