Forex News from InstaForex

[IFX Gertrude]

Australia Current Account Deficit A$10.1 Billion




Australia saw a seasonally adjusted current account deficit of A$10.139 billion in the fourth quarter of 2013, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday.
That missed forecasts for a shortfall of A$10.0 billion following the upwardly revised A$12.5 billion deficit in the third quarter (originally a deficit of A$12.7 billion).
The primary income deficit climbed A$536 million or 6 percent to A$9.898 billion.


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[IFX Gertrude]

Taiwan's Consumer Prices Drop Slightly In February





Taiwan's consumer prices decreased modestly in February from last year, data released by the National Statistics revealed Wednesday.
The consumer price index edged down 0.05 percent in February from the corresponding month of last year.
The decline mainly reflected a 2.07 percent fall in transportation and communication costs, and a 0.64 percent decrease in clothing expenses. These were partially offset by a 2.54 percent gain in food prices, and a 0.7 percent growth in housing costs.
Month-on-month, the consumer price index recorded a 0.4 percent decrease during February, the agency said.
Separately, the agency said Taiwan's wholesale prices decreased 0.48 percent year-on-year in February. Sequentially, wholesale prices rose by 0.4 percent.


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[IFX Gertrude]

Australia Retail Sales Jump 1.2% In January





Retail sales in Australia climbed a seasonally adjusted 1.2 percent on month in January, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday - worth A$22.924 billion.
That blew away forecasts for an increase of 0.4 percent following the upwardly revised 0.7 percent gain in December (originally 0.5 percent).
Among the individual components, food retailing was up 0.8 percent, along with cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (1.4 percent), household goods retailing (0.4 percent), other retailing (0.4 percent), department stores (0.7 percent) and clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (0.3 percent).


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[IFX Gertrude]

Australia Retail Sales Jump 1.2% In January





Retail sales in Australia climbed a seasonally adjusted 1.2 percent on month in January, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday - worth A$22.924 billion.
That blew away forecasts for an increase of 0.4 percent following the upwardly revised 0.7 percent gain in December (originally 0.5 percent).
Among the individual components, food retailing was up 0.8 percent, along with cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (1.4 percent), household goods retailing (0.4 percent), other retailing (0.4 percent), department stores (0.7 percent) and clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (0.3 percent).


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[IFX Gertrude]

Malaysia January Exports Rise More Than Expected





Malaysia's merchandise exports increased at a faster-than-expected pace in January, latest data revealed Friday. Goods exports increased 12.2 percent on an annual basis to MYR63.97 billion in January, the Department of Statistics said. The growth rate was bigger than the 7.9 percent economists had forecast. Major export products in January were electrical and electronic products; refined petroleum products; liquefied natural gas; chemicals and chemical products; and palm oil. At the same time, imports grew 7.2 percent year-on-year to MYR57.62 billion. Economists were looking for a 2.6 percent decrease. The three main categories of imports by end use were intermediate goods, capital goods and consumption goods. January's overall foreign trade resulted in a surplus of MYR6.36 billion, which was notably lower than than the MYR9.05 billion surplus economists had forecast, data showed.


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[IFX Gertrude]

Japan January Current Account Deficit Y1,589.0 Billion





Japan saw a current account deficit of 1,589.0 billion yen in January, the Ministry of Finance said on Monday.
That missed forecasts for a shortfall of 1,411.8 billion yen following the 638.6 billion yen deficit in December.
The trade balance reflected a deficit of 2,345.4 billion yen - which actually beat expectations for 2,589.6 billion yen. That follows the upwardly revised deficit of 1,047.4 billion yen in December (originally 1,212.6 billion yen.
Exports climbed 16.7 percent on year, while imports surged an annual 30.3 percent.


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[IFX Gertrude]

Philippine Export Growth Eases For Second Month





Philippines merchandise exports logged strong growth in in January, but the rate of increase weakened for the second successive month and missed expectations, latest data revealed Tuesday.
Goods exports advanced 9.3 percent on an annual basis to $4.382 billion in January, after gaining 15.8 percent and 18.9 percent respectively in December and November, the National Statistics Office said. Economists had forecast a 10.6 percent growth for January.
Sales were led by a 22.1 percent rise in shipments of electronic products, which followed a 26.2 percent gain in December.
January exports were also influenced by improvement in sales of other manufactured products; metal components; articles of apparel and clothing accessories; machinery and transport equipment; and wood-crafts and furniture, data showed.
Month-on-month, overall exports decreased 4.7 percent in January, with dispatches of electronic products falling 6 percent.


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[IFX Gertrude]

South Korea Unemployment Rate Rises To Three-Year High





South Korea's unemployment rate grew sharply in February to the highest level in nearly three years, data published by Statistics Korea revealed Wednesday.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate advanced to 3.9 percent in February from 3.2 percent in January. In February 2013, the jobless rate was 3.4 percent. The February figure was the highest since March 2011. On an unadjusted basis, there were around 1.18 million jobless persons in the country at the end of February, which was higher by 19.1 percent than in the same month of last year.
Data showed that the number of employed persons increased 3.5 percent year-on-year to about 24.82 million during February. At the same time, the labor force participation rate advanced 1.8 percent annually to 61.4 percent.



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[IFX Gertrude]

Dollar Declines To 2-day Low Against Pound





The U.S. dollar edged down against the pound in Asian deals on Thursday.
The greenback slipped to a 2-day low of 1.6641 against the pound at 12:20 am ET from an early high of 1.6606. The next possible support for the greenback is seen around the 1.68 zone.


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[IFX Gertrude]

Yen Rises Against Majors





The Japanese yen gained against other major currencies in the Asian session on Friday. The yen ticked up to 116.04 against the franc, 140.79 against the euro, 168.81 against the pound and 101.60 against the greenback. The yen may face resistance around 115.00 against the franc, 139.00 against the euro, 167.00 against the pound and 101.00 against the greenback. The yen rose back to 91.64 against the aussie, while against the kiwi, the yen rebounded from an early low of 87.11 and gained to 86.70. The yen hit 91.58 against the loonie, highest level since March 4. If the yen extends gain, it may find resistance around 90.00 against the aussie, 86.00 against the kiwi and 90.00 against the loonie.


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