Forex News

Retail sales in Australia were up a seasonally adjusted 1.9 percent on month in January, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday - coming in at A$35.091 billion.

Australia posted a current account surplus of A$14.114 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday.

Private sector credit in Australia was up 0.4 percent on month in January, the Reserve Bank of Australia said on Tuesday, up from 0.3 percent in December.

The China stock market has moved lower in four straight sessions, sinking more than 45 points or 1.4 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 3,260-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive, mostly on bargain hunting following heavy selling last week. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit. The SCI finished slightly lower on Monday following losses from the financials and oil companies, support from the energy stocks and a mixed picture from the property sector. For the day, the index fell 9.13 points or 0.28 percent to finish at 3,258.03 after trading between 3,251.72 and 3,276.58. The Shenzhen Composite Index lost 15.77 points or 0.74 percent to end at 2,124.88. Among the actives, Bank of China fell 0.31 percent, while China Construction Bank dipped 0.18 percent, China Merchants Bank sank 0.80 percent, Bank of Communications shed 0.41 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.45 percent, Jiangxi Copper lost 0.61 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) dropped 0.73 percent, Yankuang Energy jumped 1.83 percent, PetroChina slumped 0.38 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) slid 0.43 percent, Huaneng Power retreated 1.26 percent, China Shenhua Energy added 0.39 percent, Gemdale advanced 0.93 percent, Poly Developments gained 0.67 percent, China Vanke eased 0.23 percent, China Fortune Land and Beijing Capital Development both declined 1.11 percent and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China was unchanged.

The Singapore stock market headed south again on Monday, one session after ending the four-day losing streak in which it had slumped more than 60 points or 1.9 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just above the 3,260-point plateau although hit figures to bounce higher again on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive, mostly on bargain hunting following heavy selling last week. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

The Malaysia stock market has finished lower in four straight sessions, slumping more than 15 points or 1 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just above the 1,455-point plateau, although it's due for support on Tuesday.