Asian stocks markets have heavy losses this afternoon, with the Nikkei still posting a 10% decline. Australian stocks are down 7.59% while New Zealand stock losses are more moderate, down only 4.58%. Hong Kong is down over 7% with stocks in Shanghai down over 4%. South Korea is down over 7% and Singapore is down about 6.85%. The USD is broadly firmer in Asia, except against USD-JPY with the sharp 10% fall in the Nikkei keeping USD-JPY and JPY crosses under pressure. AUD has just traded to session lows of 0.6566 with USD-CAD at session highs of 1.1633 and the highest since Feb 2007. Broad selling in commodities in order to raise cash, has seen some metal prices fall 10% today, with oil down $4, keeping pressure on commodity currencies such as CAD and AUD. GBP-USD hit a five year low, dropping to 1.6913, with the EUR-USD sliding to 1.3524 after being consistently sold off on any rally above 1.3600 this session. NZD-USD was heavy, but found support ahead of 0.5900 and both NZD and AUD managed to stay above recent lows, despite the sell-off in CAD and Sterling. USD-JPY hit lows of 97.90 early in the session on Nikkei losses but recovered to 99.67, before trading to 98.72 into the afternoon. Meanwhile, the dollar-yen (USDJPY) strengthened on the back of falling equity prices as investors continue to lower their risk sentiment. As a result, the pair has fallen to touch an intraday low of 97.90, but has recently bounced back to hold near 98.70.
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