The dollar was holding a firmer tone in Asia, though gains were very moderate, with the overhang of the DJIA pullback on Monday and some underlying weakness in Asian stocks prompting some additional profit-taking in JPY crosses, which pushed EUR, GBP, AUD and NZD lower in morning trading. Data played a key in weakness for some currencies with the weak NZIER QSBO survey weighing on Kiwi, which dragged the AUD lower as well. USD-JPY dropped from 101.10 in early Tokyo to 100.24 on morning cross selling before consolidating in a 100.24-100.86 range with little impact from the BOJ decision to keep rates steady at 0.10%. AUD-USD failed on two tries to break under 0.7060 ahead of the RBA rate decision. The 25 bp rate cut to 3.00% from the central bank sent the AUD lower to 0.7045 before short-covering lifted the currency to highs of 0.7140. Oil prices held around $51 after the slide on Monday while gold saw a bounce of almost $6 after the strong losses Monday. Overall, price action is showing signs of consolidation of recent currency and JPY cross gains, particularly with a holiday-shortened week expected to dampen trading.
