Morning Update – 05/09/2017 – by Arjun Lakhanpal

Morning all.. Wall St was closed yesterday but some risk aversion still seemed evident in Asia last night with the Nikkei closing down 0.6% and USDJPY slipped further to a low of 109.20. JPY and CHF maintained their safe haven status with the USD softer  against both currencies, 0.4% and 0.3% respectively. The US warned on Monday that North Korea was “begging for war” but asked the UN to respond to Pyongyang’s test of its largest nuclear device with stronger sanctions to force the regime to end its weapons programmed diplomatically. AUD was the only other currency to make a significant move against the USD. AUDUSD firmed 0.3% ahead of the RBA meeting after trade data showed that an increase in net exports will add 0.3% to Q2 GDP. The RBA did not surprise the market and left interest rates unchanged stating that the “low rates are continuing to support the Australian economy” and a higher AUD is weighing in on outlook for output and employment, AUD dipped 0.1% on the announcement. In other asset classes, equities were lower for the second day this week. Gold continues to own its safe haven status hovering as a 10-month high. Gasoline prices fell a further 4% has Texan refineries get back up and running and US treasuries yields were down 3.3 bps. It is rumoured than the President will end the program later today and give congress 6 months to replace it. This morning we get PMI services from around Europe and the UK. We also get EY Retail sales data.. Good luck..