U.S. futures were largely steady in Asian trading, with S&P 500 futures up 0.2% at the time. This comes despite a heavy sell-off in the region, with the Nikkei closing down more than 3% and hitting its lowest close since late April. This continues to underscore that sentiment is extremely fragile at the moment and that stocks remain vulnerable to further declines.
This is expected to lead to increased safe-haven flows in broader markets, with traders mostly favouring the Japanese yen and Swiss franc. The dollar also remains strong against the rest of the major currency bloc, even benefiting gold this week.
As for commodity currencies, the pressure continues with AUD/USD down 0.6% to 0.6540 after breaking key support here.
This article was written by Justin Low on www.forexlive.com.