Yen strengthened as an asset to the Pacific Harbor "safe haven"; all focused on China data

During trading in the Asia-Pacific region , the Japanese currency increased in value due to the reduction in stock markets on the first trading day.

The yen went up in pairing with the dollar as traditionally an asset of a "safe haven". The USD/JPY pair fell by 0.3%, reaching 109.42 yen since most Asian indices were trading in the red zone today.

The Hang Seng index sank by 3.1%. Fears about the pace of global economic growth , the suspension of the US government and the prospects for reducing the current tightening cycle of the US Federal Reserve System became the drivers of the sale.

Also, disappointing data on the state of the economy of China affected the pressure on the shares of China.

The business index of Caixin / Markit for the last month fell to 49.7 from 50.2 as recorded in November. It fell for the first time in 19 months.

This fact confirmed the trend noted in the official report on business activity, which on Monday reflected a reduction to 49.4 in December.

The USD / CNY pair fell by 0.3 % to 6.8557 after the release of data.

The trade conflict between Washington and Beijing still holds the attention of the market. Reports that Donald Trump noted progress towards a possible resolution of the conflict, giving some reason for optimism but the state edition of China, People's Daily, warned last Wednesday that they did not give up and does not plan to make concessions in matters related with national interests.

The dollar index, which tracks the dynamics of the US dollar exchange rate against a basket of currencies of six countries - the main US trading partners, was trading sideways at 95.703.

According to reports released the day before, Donald Trump is ready to conclude a deal and resume the work of the government.

Partly, the work of the government was suspended 11 days ago, which affected 9 of the 15 federal departments, dozens of agencies and hundreds of thousands of workers, following the reports.

Australia's national currency slipped by 0.4% and reached 0.725 against the dollar, which indicates worsening growth prospects for the economy of the People's Republic of China.