Fitch Downgrades Japan, AUD Gains Momentum

 | Apr 28, 2015 04:07AM ET

Market Brief

Yesterday, European stock markets were trading higher as traders are showing signs of renewed confidence in the Eurozone/Greek deal. The DAX was leading the charge and gained 1.93%, across the channel the FTSE was up 1.62% while Euro Stoxx 50 appreciated by 1.55%. Swiss equities weakly followed the trend and rose by 0.50%. European futures are all green this morning.

In the Asian session, it was pretty quiet in the FX market. USD/JPY consolidated around 119.10, slightly above the 118.60-75 support area, despite the fact that Fitch downgraded Japan’s long-term foreign and local currency issuer default rating from A+ to A (the agency placed Japan credit on Rating Watch Negative on 9 Dec 2014 ) on growing uncertainty over the government’s commitment to fiscal consolidation. The Nikkei edged up by 0.39%, Shanghai Comp was catching its breath and lost -0.84%, the Hang Seng is almost flat (-0.23%) while the Sensex is up 0.46%.