Easily the busiest day of the week so far...>

OPTIONS: Easily the busiest day of the week so far for currency options volumes,

with yesterday's Fed meeting helping stimulate activity across Asia-Pac markets

and well into the NY crossover. Particularly firm volumes are noted in USD/KRW,

USD/JPY and USD/CAD so far today. This has fed through well into implied vol

markets, with DMFX 3m vols all managing to edge higher, although the real gains

are noted in Asia-Pac FX with onshore USD/TWD and USD/CNY both posting sharp

upticks in 1m vols.

-USD/JPY trade has generally leant toward puts, with Y107.50, Y107.25 and

Y102.35 taking focus. The largest trades of the day so far have primarily been

volatility bets, with a $340mln Y105.05/109.00 strangle shortly followed by a

$500mln Y109.60 straddle in early European hours.

-Markets have clamoured for USD/KRW options, although calls and puts have been

broadly balanced - despite the sharp fall in spot USD/KRW. Both 1,175.00 call

options and 1,160.00 puts have drawn interest Thursday.

-USD/HKD call demand has also been a focus (again), with over to $1.25bln in

call options trading with strikes at or above the 7.85 peg.