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The Yen Holds Steady, Shares of SoftBank Soar

By:
David Frank
Published: Dec 7, 2016, 09:36 UTC

Today’s trading in Asia saw markets trade mostly higher. Australia struggled after a weak gross domestic product (GDP) report. Shares in Japan’s benchmark

Shares of SoftBank jumped 3.6 percent

Today’s trading in Asia saw markets trade mostly higher. Australia struggled after a weak gross domestic product (GDP) report. Shares in Japan’s benchmark stock exchanged moved higher after US President-elect Donald Trump deal with SoftBank to invest in the US economy and create new jobs.

In Australia, the ASX 200 was up about 0.91 percent. The benchmark saw broad base gains through most of its sectors, except energy which fell 0.7 percent. Australia, this morning reported that their third quarter GDP grew, quarter on quarter, at 0.5 percent and 1.8 percent on the year. This was below the 2.5 percent growth rate economists had expected. The GDP for the second quarter was revised up to 0.6 percent from the original 0.5 percent print. The third quarter decline was the biggest since 2008 and could change the Australian central bank’s outlook on monetary policy going into the New Year.

After the news came out the AUD/USD Forex market lost 0.5 percent to trade at 0.7420 as of 9:00 am GMT time.

The Nikkei 225, Japan’s benchmark, was higher this morning as shares of SoftBank jumped 3.6 percent. The bank reached an agreement with President-elect Donald Trump to invest $50 billion in the United States and help create 50,000 jobs over the next four years. The paperwork from Trump’s meeting also featured the logo of Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai. They supply Apple’s iPhones. It is not clear as what their role is at this time but shares of this Taiwanese listed firm were up over 0.8 percent.

Looking at the broader currency market, this morning, the US Dollar index, which tracks the US Dollar against a basket of other currencies was at 100.59. The index was closer to 101.50 last week. The USD/JPY Forex pair was steady near the key ¥114 level. This Forex market, as of 9:00 am GMT time was trading at 114.31.

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