Antipodeans rise on better than expected Chinese data

China's central bank set the reference rate within 2 pips of the prior fix at 6.5630, continuing to stabilize the CNY fix. The Chinese equities initially rallied in the early trade, but were flat by mid day. Out of the G20 countries, AUD led the commodity bloc higher as the Australian Dollar soared on impressive Chinese trade data (actual USD 60.09 bn versus expected USD 51.30 bn). It advanced to circa 0.7049, after having touched session's low of 0.6975. The kiwi followed its fellow Antipodean as it traders high around the 0.6590 level.

The CNY fix and Chinese trade data aided the greenback taking it to sessions high of 118.35, after it opened at a low of 117.65. The euro also lost some ground on Chinese data, as it dropped low to 1.0811 from a high of 1.0862 levels.

Asian shares rallied as Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index edged up 1.0 percent, while Tokyo's Nikkie and Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 2.4 percent.