ForexLive Asia Wrap Tue20Nov2012: Moody's Downgrades French Government Debt

The biggest news of the day came early; Moody's downgrading French Government Debt a notch from AAA to AA1. Just as a heads up, ForexLive reported the rumour of this 20 minutes before the announcement. EUR/USD gapped down from 1.2817 to 1.2780, finding support just below 1.2770. It consolidated from the balance of the Tokyo morning, then traded higher to nearly fill the gap.   Figures/announcements today: Conference Board LEI for Australia (Sept.) -0.3% (vs. -0.8% for Aug.)   Minutes from the November RBA Board meeting were released “Further easings may be appropriate ahead” “Current monetary policy stance appropriate” The minutes did not read as if a December rate cut is likely (this could change between now and Dec. 4 though)   China Direct Foreign Investment fell for the 11th of the past 12 months The BOJ concluded their Monetary Policy meeting with no rate changes and no further easings at present. Full statement. The All Industries Activity Index out of Japan (MoM) was at -0.3 (vs. +0.1 prior and expectations for -0.4 to -0.5%) Reports out of Japan that ASEAN and China have failed to agree on talks to establish a Sth. China Sea code of conduct – China Premier Wen saying: the two sides “should deal with issues, including disputes over territory or maritime rights, under the situation that would not be disturbed by outsiders,” Glen Stevens is scheduled to speak at a dinner with the Committee for Economic Development of Australia in Melbourne, Australia at 0815GMT. The Canadian and Australian dollars are to become classified as ‘reserve currencies' by the IMF. Currencies were largely range-bound throughout the session, USD/JPY 81.17 – 81.37 EUR/USD bouncing from its Frnech downgrade lows at 1.2768 to 1.2822 GBP/USD 1.5890 – 1.5914 AUD/USD 1.0396 – 1.0422 NZD/USD 0.8171 – 0.8201 USD/CAD 0.9953 – 0.9969