A raft of Japanese data before the open.......>

FOREX: A raft of Japanese data before the open failed to significantly affect

the yen, price action in Asia once again mostly dictated by movements in the US

dollar ahead of the State of the Union address from US President Trump later

today at 2100ET (0200GMT), and the FOMC Rate Announcement on Wednesday. The

dollar index (DXY) is up 0.080 on the session at 89.389, moving away from 3-Year

lows. The move was driven by a rise in yields in the US as decent selling

activity pushed the 10-Year yield to 2.73%, the highest since April 2014. This

briefly pushed USD/JPY to a session high of 109.20 before rumoured sales in the

pair from Japanese exporters saw it hit session lows of 108.69. Japanese data

earlier in the session (strong retail sales/labour mkt, weaker household

spending) saw no reaction. Early on strong Kiwi trade balance figures saw a pop

NZD/USD before paring the gain, last up 10pips at 0.7332. GBP/USD lower, down 27

pips at 1.4047 on USD strength as well as some reports of squabbles with the EU

over Brexit/a Brexit analysis leak with negative connotations. EUR/USD faring

slightly better, last at 1.2379, recovering from lows of 1.2360. PBoC set a

higher fix for USD/CNY today at 6.3312, first rise in 8 days.