JPY has a soft start to the week while NZD....>

FOREX: JPY has a soft start to the week while NZD climbs on trade hopes

-After a quiet Asia-Pac session (Japan remained closed), JPY weakened further in

early Europe, prompted by USD/JPY taking out key resistance layered between

Y110.00-20. The move was aided by generally positive risk sentiment Monday with

equities and bond yields gaining.

-Much of the positive sentiment follows US press reports suggesting that US

advisors have discussed the possibility of a Sino-US Presidential summit as soon

as March. Markets have clearly bought into the belief that this bodes well for

trade talks due to take place this week.

-In early Asia-Pac hours, CHF spiked lower in a "mini flash crash", but quickly

erased the move. Asia-based traders noted that CHF was sold vs. USD & JPY to

execute a stop-loss run amidst thin holiday liquidity. NOK is the poorest

performer in G10 following soft inflation data: January CPI fell 0.5% m/m vs.

Exp fall of 0.3%. NOK/SEK fell below the 100-dma at 1.0670 on the move.

-Datapoints are few and far between Monday, with focus turning to a speech from

ECB's Knot.