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For the second day in a row, the Japanese yen is the weakest major currency as today’s heavy risk-on bent leads to selling in the safe haven currency. Meanwhile, the aussie has caught a big bid despite the RBA citing “increased risks” to the household sector.

The first day of the new month has started positively for equities and risk-sensitive yen pairs, while commodity dollars have also shown relative strength so far in the session.

One of the first things that new traders to the FX markets learn is that many currencies are correlated with other markets. For instance, the close relationship between oil and the Canadian dollar or certain metals and the Australian dollar are intuitive given the importance of exporting those commodities for the Canadian and Australian economies.

Today the generally positive sentiment in the stock markets has helped to keep this risk-sensitive AUD/JPY cross supported ahead of Aussie employment data on Thursday and the Bank of Japan’s policy decision a day later on Friday.

News that North Korea is willing to discuss disarming its nuclear weapons if its own safety can be guaranteed has reduced the tension in the region and the Japanese yen has weakened a little as a result.

The Aussie has been supported not just due to the domestic economy's outperformance but also by rebounding base metal prices thanks to a brighter outlook for the world's second largest economy and major commodity consumer, China.

Global stock markets sold off while safe haven gold and yen surged higher today. Market commentators blamed today’s risk-off trade on shenanigans at the White House.

The AUD/JPY has bounced strongly off a key support level today, suggesting that the recent downward trend may have come to a halt, at least for the time being anyway. We have also seen a correspondingly sharp rally on Wall Street, suggesting that the appetite for risk is still there despite the recent weakness and uncertainty about French elections ...

The Australian dollar and the Japanese yen are the obvious choices when it comes down to trading during the Asian session tonight. Not only do we have rate decisions from central banks of both Australia and Japan, but we will also have the latest manufacturing PMI data from China, the world’s second largest economy and Australia’s largest trading pa...

The Australian dollar has been fairly stable recently, and it has actually risen against weaker rivals such as the New Zealand dollar and Japanese yen. However, that could all change if investors start to dislike risk, if, for example, U.S. elections or disappointing corporate earnings cause global equities to retreat. There is also a risk that toni...

Traditional risk assets have surged higher over the past couple of days in reaction to the latest policy decisions from the Bank of Japan and the US Federal Reserve. Global equities, dollar-denominated metal and oil prices, the euro and commodity currencies have all benefited from this “risk-on” trade.

The AUD/JPY is among the most interesting FX pairs to watch this week, for both fundamental and technical reasons. My colleague James Chen, in his USD/JPY article, has already written about the Bank of Japan’s meeting on Thursday and has highlighted, among other things, the ineffectiveness of the BoJ’s easing tools and tactics. In short, the mark...