ForexLive Asia Wrap Wednesday 19 Dec 2012: Cliff – No Cliff News is Good News for EUR/USD

No news today on the ongoing Fiscal Cliff negotiations ... that didn't stop EUR/USD from marching a little higher.

Data/economics/comments:

New Zealand Q3 Current Account deficit of NZ$4.42Bn (Q2 was -NZ$1.79Bn, market expected -NZ$4.4Bn)
Figures showed the RBNZ sold NZ$64 million over the month - and while this was recognised as not a large amount, RBNZ activity normally nets to very close to zero, so there was some market interest in what be perceived as the bginnings of stealthy intervention
New Zealand online job vacancies fell 2.7% in November
Australia: October Westpac/MI Leading Index +0.1% (after +0.7% in September)
Japan: November Merchandise Trade Balance -Y953.4Bn (vs. -Y549.0Bn prior and -Y1035.1Bn expected)
Japan: October All Industry Activity Index +0.2% (vs. +0.2% expected)
House of Reps. Majority Leader Eric Cantor said he expects a vote on a Republican bill (Plan "B") on Thursday to have enough votes to pass
Day 1 of the BOJ Policy Meeting today - we heard nothing and don't expect to do so until the conclusion of Day 2, tomorrow
The Nikkei225 had another good day, advancing above 10,000

EUR/USD had a quiet morning, testing to its NY high. In the afternoon it triggered stops above here, trading as high as 1.3256 before heading sideways again into Europe.

USD/JPY ticked steadily higher into the fixing, getting to 84.43,  just below its Monday morning post-election high, before falling back to 84.23 and settling around 84.25/30 for the balance of the day.

NZD/USD lost 40 points on the session (0.8378 the low), while the AUD drifted lower with it, finding buyers again just ahead of 1.0500.