Asian markets rise on U.S. consumer Confidence; Euro and Pound hold at high levels
FXstreet.com (Barcelona) - Asian markets are going through gains on Wednesday buoyed by upbeat U.S. Consumer confidence figures and the improvement on Japanese merchandise Trade Data, which has diminished the impact of North Korean missile test. On the currency side, Euro and Pound remain floating at high levels.Japanese Nikkei Index adds 1.5%, as buy orders increased after Japanese trade figures were released. Hong Kong Hang Seng Index soared 4%. South Korean Kospi Index edges down 0.2% weighed by nuclear test by their northern neighbors.Investor's optimism increased considerably after U.S. consumer's confidence rose in May to itts highest level since September, showing that Americans start to feel more confident about the outlook of economy. Furthermore, Japanese exports rose 39.1% year on year in April, against market expectations of a 41.9% decline.Euro and Pound, consolidating at mid-term highsEUR/USD has remained moving in a range from 1.3950 to 1.400 after having recovered on yesterday's U.S. session from 1.3855 intra-day low. The Euro is trading at 5-month high after last week's rally from 1.3420.GBP/USD rose during Asian session to a fresh 6-month high at 1.5980. The Pound has been rallying continuously for the last month, and from 1.4397 low on April 22, the Sterling has risen to levels right below 1.6000.USD/JPY has finally broken above resistance area at 95.10/30 andfd the paitr trades at intra-week high at levels around 95.40 at the time of writing.