USD has extended its gains during Asia, yen fighting back a little

The USD has added to its gains across the board here in Asia trade. Most notably against the Chinese yuan, prompting intervention to stem its rise and propr up the CNY:

• China state banks seen buying yuan in onshore FX market

Even that isn’t helping the yuan a lot.

Elsewhere the USD is up widely. AUD/USD is under 0.6540, EUR/USD circa 1.0640.

The yen is putting up a fight. it approached 152.00 but didn’t get there, just nudging 151.80. We’ve had some light verbal intervention from fin min Suziuki:

Japan finance minister Suzuki verbal intervention again

USD/JPY has dropped back.

152.00 is a psychological level:

1. It’s a round number

2. It’d mark a new high for the year.

I think next week, perhaps even later today, we might look back at 152.00 as being just a speed bump for the USD/JPY progress. We’ll see.

This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at www.forexlive.com.