Asian Markets Down on Chinese Data
February 1st, 2:50 pm by Lior Alkalay
(eToro Blog) Chinese data showed that manufacturing has struggled in January. The Chinese PMI printed at 50.5 in January. This showed that manufacturing activity neither expanded nor contracted in January. Economists expect that Chinese policy makers are unlikely to react as the PMI reading does not show contraction. HSBC sounded more downbeat and said that the January data showed declining output. With inflation no longer a concern, markets are anxiously waiting for the People’s Bank of China to ease monetary policy. China is facing a slowdown due to the crisis in Europe and a sputtering economy in the U.S. A slowdown in manufacturing activity in China affects demand for natural resources from Australia and New Zealand, which have been two of the best performing economies in 2011.
OpenBook trader tanoli67 who has trades primarily in the AUDUSD has been short the pair for the last several weeks. This trader booked a 25% gain by shorting the AUDUSD at 1.0630. The AUDUSD has been testing resistance near 1.0670 and this trader looks for an opportunity to sell the pair on a pull back. In addition to trading the AUDUSD, the trader also took advantage of the USDJPY move down below 77.00 and profited by shorting the pair. The trader who is located in Australia trades primarily during the Asian session. The trader has 35 copiers and 497 followers so far on OpenBook.
OpenBook trader mizogutisennri, who is from Japan, looks for opportunity to trade the Yen against the Dollar, Euro and Australian Dollar. The trader is up 28% this week primarily because they shorted the USDJPY near 77.50 and booked profit as high as 78.87%. While the trader has not performed so well in trading the EURJPY, they have done well with the GBPJPY, AUDJPY and USDJPY. The trader has now switched to long USDJPY as they fear that it is too dangerous too short the USDJPY at current levels.
Asian markets ended a choppy session with disappointment on the Chinese data. The Japanese Nikkei closed up 7 points, the Hang Seng closed down 57 points, the Shanghai index closed down 26 points and the Australian S&P ASX closed down 35 points. Traders on OpenBook are primarily long the USDJPY with average limits at 77.40 and stops at 76.00.
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