Market sentiment analysis:
- Trader confidence in riskier assets is ebbing away, strengthening the safe-haven US Dollar, on concerns about the spread of the delta variant of Covid-19 and as lockdowns are imposed in Australia and several Asian countries.
- Meanwhile, the IG client sentiment data are sending out a bullish signal on the AUD/JPY currency pair.
Trader sentiment worsens
Traders are becoming increasingly worried about the delta variant of Covid-19 and more lockdowns in Australia and several Asian countries. That’s sending investors out of riskier currencies such as GBP, CAD and NZD and into the safe-haven USD – trends that look likely to continue. Note though that US stock markets are holding up well.
Meanwhile, IG client positioning data are sending out a bullish signal on AUD/JPY as net-short positions rise steeply.
AUD/JPY Price Chart, One-Hour Timeframe (June 11-29, 2021)

Chart by IG (You can click on it for a larger image)
Change in | Longs | Shorts | OI |
Daily | -33% | 6% | -10% |
Weekly | -38% | 11% | -10% |
In this webinar, I looked at the trends in the major currency, commodity and stock markets, at the forward-looking data on the economic calendar this week, at the IG Client Sentiment page on the DailyFX website, and at the IG Client Sentiment reports that accompany it.



--- Written by Martin Essex, Analyst
Feel free to contact me on Twitter @MartinSEssex