Morning Update – 18/04/2017 – by Arjun Lakhanpal

Morning all.. Wall St had a decent close as geo-political tensions eased slightly with the S&P closing up 0.86% yesterday. The Nikkei closed up 0.35% in a quiet session. USD stronger across the G10 FX board following commentary from US Treasury Sec Mnuchin late in the day where he talked up the USD after Trump’s remarks last week that the greenback has gotten too strong, noting that strength of USD over the long term is a positive. Mnuchin added that while the timeline for getting tax reform done by August is “highly aggressive”, he did expect tax system changes sometime this year, also adding that the border adjustment tax is just one of many elements considered in raising $1T for the tax program. USD/JPY rose over 50pips on the comments above ¥109 level and then extended those gains above ¥109.20. NZD/USD found support at 0.70, while AUD/USD fell about 40pips below 0.7550. Australia’s ASX200 is among the worst performing indices in Asia, falling over 1% to a 2-week low below 5,830. Mining shares are weighed down by more selling in iron ore, with Dalian gauge falling over 3% early in the day. RBA April policy meeting minutes echoed the cautious stance displayed in the original statement, indicating policymakers had to balance some recent deteriorating in employment conditions with rising household debt in calibrating their policy stance. Board plans to continue monitoring labour and housing conditions over the coming months, particularly the overheating Melbourne and Sydney markets. EUR capped by fears over the French election this weekend.. This morning we have no data of note.. Good luck..