Risk appetite continued in European sessions as major indices are broadly higher, led by mining stocks following yesterday’s earnings announcement from Alcoa. Also, Fitch said today that there is no plan to downgrade France’s AAA credit rating this year. Fitch lowered the rating outlook from stable to negative back in mid-December due to “intensification of the eurozone crisis” but there would be any change before 2013 in the ” absence of important shocks that could be linked to a strong worsening of the situation in the eurozone”. Also, markets were assured by French prime minister Fillon that France will be its deficit target for 2011 and would “most probably” be lower than the target of 5.7% of GDP. IMF managing director Lagarde and German Chancellor Merkel will meet … Read entire article »

By: Barbara Zigah The Euro managed to hold steady in Asian trade, but analysts say it remains vulnerable as the week progresses and two key debt auctions loom. As reported at 12:31 pm, the Euro was trading at $1.2767, rebounding from $1.2666, the recently struck 16-month low. Market players have said that an option barrier set at $1.2650 has precipitated some short-covering moves in Asia. Strong support for the Euro is seen just below $1.2600, and on the upside some stop-loss bids are seen at $1.2790 and beyond that $1.280. Several key events will be occurring this week, besides the Thursday and Friday debt auctions, including an ECB policy meeting. It is likely that the ECB will put renewed pressure on the Eurozone governments to work harder to resolve the debt crisis. … Read entire article »

Aussie rebounds strongly in Asia today following rebound in risk markets as well as positive housing data. Asian stocks are somewhat lifted by earnings report of Aloca. The company’s outlook is seen as a bellwether of economic growth because of aluminium’s important role in manufacturing. The company posted a Q4 loss due to sharp decline in aluminium prices but revenue beat expectations. It also posted a positive outlook in demand, expecting 7% growth this year. Asian equities are broadly higher with Nikkei up more than 30 pts at the time of writing. Aussie is further boosted by building approvals data, which rose 8.4% mom in November. EUR/AUD dives to new record low. China’s trade data showed export grew 13.4% yoy in December, inline with expectation but was the slowest since … Read entire article »