USD/JPY is trading at 144.712, 0.34% down since previous day close. The YEN consistently trades weaker against the USD amid hawkish Fed & other major Central Bank’s monetary stance in future course of time. Also, the BoJ’s move of leaving interest rate steady at -0.10% made the YEN weaker. In Japan, the Prelim Industrial Production fell by 1.6% weaker than expectation -0.9% while the Housing Starts grew by 3.5% from -11.9% in the previous month. The weak Chinese PMI figures further dragged down the USD/JPY since Japan & China are the trading partners. As seen in the chart, the pair is firmly trading above the short-term MA (10) & MA (20); indicating more selling bias in YEN against the USD.

CHNIND is trading at 6366.3, 0.02% up since previous close. The tight range can be seen in CHNIND post release of mixed PMI figures. The Manufacturing PMI rose to 49.0 from 48.8 in the previous month & the Non-Manufacturing PMI fell to 53.2 from 54.5 previously. This indicates stagnant growth in China’s economic & manufacturing activities. Globally, the hawkish outlook over monetary policy in near future as mentioned by major Central Banks chiefs led the selling bias in CHNIND earlier in this week. Last week, the PBoC cut down its interest rate by 10 bps lower than expectation which subdued the index. As seen in the chart, the CHNIND is trading within the converging trend-lines & hence, either side breakout can be expected on short term basis.

WTI Oil is trading at $69.88, 0.22% up since previous day close. An upward momentum continued to be seen in Oil prices as China posted mixed PMI figures & hence, affects the Oil consumption demand since China is a major Oil consuming country. On Wednesday, the U.S EIA report showed a massive fall in Oil inventory levels by 9.6 mbpd against the expected fall of 1.4 mbpd which boosted up the prices. The supply disruption from Russia, one of the major Oil producing country amid a clash between Moscow & Russian mercenary group Wagner led a rise in prices. As seen in the chart, the Oil is still trading near the short-term Moving Averages & hence, the mixed trading can be seen for the day.