AUD/USD remains under pressure

AUD/USD remains under pressure. Initial support is at 1.0395 which if breaks might amplify the bearish pressure that could push AUD/USD down to 1.0372 – 1.0345.

Hourly stochastic and CCI are still mixed, but it is better to prepare alternative strategy in case bullish correction occurs to the resistance area at 1.0434 – 1.0457. Bearish signal that might confirm within the area could trigger a fallback move to 1.0419 – 1.0395.

The intraday bias will turn to bullish only if the resistance at 1.0475 breaks. In that case, AUD/USD will get the chance to move up to 1.0473 – 1.0496.

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GBP/USD is in Bullish Bias, Beware of Correction

Intraday bias for GBP/USD currently is bullish. Initial resistance is at 1.5219. The bullish bias will be stronger if that resistance breaks and potentially will raise GBP/USD up to 1.5249 – 1.5282. Nevertheless, beware of correction since hourly stochastic and CCI are overbought. As alternative scenario, watch the support area at 1.5170 – 1.5140 if correction occurs to within that area to look for bullish signal confirmation as buy signal, with rebound target at 1.5189 – 1.5219.

Be careful if the support at 1.5140 breaks because it will turn the intraday bias to bearish and possibly will push GBP/USD down to 1.5121 – 1.5091.

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5 Important Things Coming to New York Session

Factors Fueling U.S. stocks and CFDs, Wednesday, March 20:

Jitters Cyprus: Cyprus Tensions are moving towards bankruptcy continues after parliament rejected Cyprus EU bailout terms. So far, banks in Cyprus are still closed until the weekend, at the same time the ECB has threatened to end emergency aid to troubled banks in the country. However there is still hope that Russia will disburse funds as it had been given to Cyprus before.

BoE Minutes: Pound jumped after struck by the BoE minutes showed that one of the reasons why the central bank did not increase the stimulus is concern about inflationary pressures in the event of additional QE BoE officials feared would lead to further weakening pound sterling thus giving the perception that the central bank failed to maintain commitment to low inflation levels. 

Fed Statement: The focus of investors will be focused on the Fed's statement after the FOMC meeting, which is expected to continue to maintain the bond purchase program of $ 85 billion per month. In addition, the market participants will be waiting for the economy and interest rate projections the Fed, particularly the unemployment outlook, in December, forecast the U.S. unemployment rate was in the range 7.4% - 7.7%. If the Federal Reserve lowered its unemployment rate, it will signal the strengthening of the U.S. labor market.

FedEx Earnings: Investors can also measure the pulse of the economy through FedEx earnings are expected to shrink profit over the previous year, largely due to higher jet fuel prices. Share CFDs FedEx alone has risen 17% since the beginning of this year.

Lennar Results: Signal recovery housing sector is also expected to contribute to earnings Lennar. Home builders are expected to increase sales and profits and new orders surge. Share CFDs Lennar gained 57% so far in the last year.

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Japan’s Nikkei Jumps 2 pct on Exporters, Recovers From Cyprus Blow

Japan’s Nikkei average rebounded 2 percent on Tuesday, regaining some ground lost in the previous session as fears receded that a controversial bailout proposal for Cyprus could reignite the euro zone crisis.

Analysts said that the disruption to the Japanese market from the unusual bailout plan for Cyprus seems to have run its course, although the Japanese equities market is prone to volatility because it is vulnerable to a rise in the yen when global market uncertainty increases.

“It looks like the bailout issue will be contained in Cyprus itself and it probably won’t spread to the euro zone. As the Japanese market was rallying lately, Monday’s selling served as a good opportunity for correction,” said Yutaka Miura, a senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities. “But European debt issues will likely take years to be resolved, and we need to be prepared for a sell-off like this again as the Japanese market could easily get hit by a strong yen when investors buy the yen.”

The Nikkei added 247.60 points to 12,468.23 after sliding 2.7 percent on Monday, its biggest one-day drop in 10 months. The index is just 0.74 percent away from a 4-1/2 year high of 12,560.95 marked last Friday.

Ahead of a parliamentary vote in Cyprus that will either secure the island’s financial rescue or threaten default, euro zone ministers have urged Cyprus to let smaller savers escape a controversial levy on bank deposits.

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Euro Falls Toward 4-Month Low Versus Dollar; Drops Against Yen

The euro slid toward the lowest in almost four months against the dollar after the Cypriot parliament voted down a bank-deposit levy needed to secure a bailout, risking renewed tumult in the currency bloc.

The 17-nation currency fell for a fourth day versus the yen as an official familiar with the matter said European policy makers in Cyprus discussed further capital controls and extending a bank holiday through to the end of the week. The yen and dollar rose against most major peers as investors sought havens on concern Europe’s crisis may slide out of control.

“It’s an impasse with the Cyprus parliament rejecting the proposals from the eurogroup, and they will have to engage in further negotiations,” said Hans Kunnen, the Sydney-based chief economist at St. George Bank Ltd. “This just adds to the weight against the euro.”

The euro fell 0.1 percent to $1.2872 as of 9:25 a.m. in Singapore from $1.2882 in New York yesterday, when it touched $1.2844, the weakest since Nov. 22. The shared currency declined 0.3 percent to 122.18 yen and traded little changed at 1.2196 Swiss francs following a 0.5 percent drop yesterday. The dollar slid 0.3 percent to 94.92 yen. 

Japanese financial markets are closed today for a national holiday.

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Important Things Before the Open Market

• AUD has slipped back against the U.S. dollar in the early session of the Asia-Pacific region Friday earlier closure area above 1.04, last at 1.0354, off a session today at 1.0341, related to concerns from Cyprus. After falling in, it seems buying players start popping dare to catch a falling EUR prices during the European session. The euro itself has penetrated the 1:29 area just to survive near the area.

• The majority of today's Asian bourses fell due to appear in a massive sell-off risky assets after a decision euro zone to force the depositors in the country Cyprus to contribute to the bailout, triggering fears that direct transmission of the problem to other countries in the region .

• U.S. Crude Oil contract moved down more than $ 1 per barrel in early Asian trading session on Monday, hit by a stronger U.S. dollar.

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Investors Focus This Week Asia focused on Japan Trade Data

Focus on Asian investors this week will be focused on Japan's trade data which will be a test of the new Japanese government policy, other than that attention will be focused on earnings reports China's energy giant, CNOOC and Sinopec.

Japan's trade data will provide additional evidence whether Japanese exporters benefit from PM Shinzo Abe added that maintaining the weakening Japanese yen. In addition, the investors will also see Japan's trade report as a measure of global demand.

Japanese Parliament finally approved the new management at the Bank of Japan and the government took measures to support monetary policy in an effort to push back the third largest economy in the world.

The upper house gave the green light to Haruhiko Kuroda as the Governor of the Bank of Japan, a former head of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to undertake aggressive measures of monetary easing after its predecessor failed to change the fate of the Japanese economy.

The Star Online Friday (03/15/2013) that includes news, Japanese House of Representatives also approved Kikuo Iwata and Hiroshi Nakaso as deputy governor accompanied Kuroda, unanimously came despite warnings from the opposition who oppose Iwata.

After receiving approval from the parliament, the new management team of Bank of Japan will take their position next week to discuss the focus of their first policy next month.

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