The U.S. Dollar (CURRENCY:USD) added robust gains against both Japanese Yen and the Euro during the Asian trade today.
The momentum in the dollar came after forex traders settled down with the U.S. jobs data released last week and the poor Chinese trade report. USD/JPY (USDJPY) surged 0.71% to 107.86 while EUR/USD (EURUSD) dipped 0.08% to 1.1394. The U.S. dollar first received a lukewarm response from traders after the job report showed the slowest employment growth over the last seven months in April. However, the fact that the average wage growth picked up in the same month boosted the outlook for the greenback. Meanwhile, the yen did not respond to Japan’s Finance Minister Taro Aso comments indicating at possible intervention.
European markets bounce back
Among world equities, Asian stocks closed the session mixed, responding to the oil rally and China’s weaker trade figure. China’s Shanghai Composite experienced a rough day, losing 2.79% to 2,832.11. On the other hand, India’s S&P BSE SENSEX (INDEXBOM:SENSEX) gained the most, up by 1.83% to 25,691.46.
At the same time, the rise in oil prices supported the rally in the European equities, which opened the session on strong footing. German’s DAX (INDEXDB:DAX) led the pack with a 1.83% rise, trading at 10,050.58.
Oil prices head North Following Strong Chinese Crude Imports
Oil and the corresponding iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil Total Return (NYSEARCA:OIL) were up in the early premarket hours, driven by China’s strong crude imports that rose 7.6% year-on-year in April. Besides this, the wildfire in Canada’s oil sands has put the hopes high for easing global supply gut. In early European trade, Brent Crude surpassed the $46 per barrel level, adding 1.50% while the West Texas Intermediate was up by nearly 2% to $45.53. Oil markets seem to have shrugged off the concerns that may have come after removal of Saudi Arabia’s oil minister Ali al-Naimi.
