Asian markets rise on corporate earnings; Euro and Pound steady at mid-term highs

Asian markets are going through moderate gains on improved confidence after better than expected corporate earnings forecasts by Olympus and Nissan. Euro and Pound remain steady at high levels, while the Dollar dropped lower against the Yen.

Japanese Nikkei Index adds 0.7%, and the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index rose another 0.7%, markets in Australia, New Zealand and India are going through losses.

Olympus rose 12% on the back of a company earnings forecast of 40 billion Yen, against 9.3 billion Yen loss expected by market analysts. Nissan rose 6.5% after forecasting a net loss for the year 2009, half the amount expected by the analysts.

Euro and Pound steady at high levels; Dollar Yen, lower

EUR/USD has entered into a consolidation phase ranging from 1.3660 to 1.3720, fresh 7-week high reached on Asian session. The Euro lies right below Mar 19 high at 1.3740.

GBP/USD remains hovering below the fresh 4-month high at 1.5350 reached on Monday’s U.S. session, right below1.5370 (Jan 8 high). At the moment, the Pound moves in a narrow range both sides of 1.5300.

USD/JPY has continued with its decline from May 8 high at 99.66, and the Dollar has reached a fresh 2-week low at 95.75 to pick up to levels above 96.00 at the time of writing.