The pound took centre stage during the........>

FOREX: The pound took centre stage during the Asia-Pacific session, improved

sentiment toward Brexit was the theme, sparked by an article in the UK Times

that claimed, Britain is close to an Irish border deal and that the EU is

preparing to offer a 2-year Brexit transition deal as early as January. Cable

soared from around $1.3410 to a fresh 2-month high of $1.3480. Euro-dollar

climbed from $1.1847 to $1.1871, the single currency underpinned by euro-yen

demand reportedly from Japanese asset managers. Kiwi-dollar plunged from $0.6880

to $0.6833 after the release of ANZ Business Confidence data, which dropped to

-39.3, the lowest read since early 2009. Aussie rose from $0.7557 to $0.7592,

aussie-kiwi demand and better-than-expected China PMI data was seen to underpin.

Local Capex and Building Approval data came in higher than forecast,

surprisingly, there was no discernible movement to the currency.  Meanwhile,

dollar-yen was in consolidation mode and held a fairly narrow Y111.88 to Y112.11

range.