USD/JPY down on Asian red as EUR/USD follows European stocks opening higher

FXstreet.com (Barcelona) - EUR/USD climbed off London lows at 1.3264 to post a morning high at 1.3300 as European stocks opened higher this morning, despite USD/JPY being led lower by a mixed picture in Asian stocks.

Overnight, Asian bourses were mixed to lower on a quiet economic calendar, with Friday´s weaker than expected US jobs data and the consequential dampened tapering expectations weighing on sentiment. The Nikkei closed in the red -1.44% at 14,258.04, with the KOSPI (-0.37%), the Straits Times (-0.63%) and the S&P/ASX 200 following suit (-0.11%). Elsewhere the Hang Seng closed 0.15% higher at 22,225.22, the SSE composites all closed above 1% and TAIEX was up 0.48% at 8,138.63, presenting a mixed picture across the regions. The sentiment helped USD/JPY to ease lower overnight to where it is currently trading at 98.34, having made an overnight high at 99.15.

In contrast, EUR/USD largely ranged overnight, with European Indice futures remaining stable overnight. EUR/USD stayed within an extremely tight range during the session despite the contrasting Asian equity performance. With European futures climbing into the European open, cash equities followed suit, and are now trading in the green, albeit marginally. The DAX is up 0.21% at 8,424.67, the FTSE 100 up 0.47% at 6,679.39 and Eurostoxx 50 up 0.23% at 2,817.50. This morning has seen European Markit Services PMI´s coming in better than expected across the board except in Germany where expectations were missed, but the number remains above the key 50 expansion/contraction benchmark. Later this afternoon we have US ISM Non-Manufacturing PMIs. US futures are up, with DJIA up 0.19%, the S&P 500 up 0.16% and the NASDAQ up 0.38%.