US debt ceiling concern creeps into Asian session

FXstreet.com (London) - The Asian session showed increasing caution, as partisan fighting over the US debt ceiling becomes further entrenched. Yesterday Texas US Senator Ted Cruz completed a 22 hour speech in protest against continued funding of President Obama’s controversial Affordable Care Act. The US government is scheduled to hit its current debt ceiling mid-October, possibly forcing a shutdown. A bill had passed the House, extending the debt ceiling until 15 December, while defunding elements of Obamacare. However Cruz, along with others including Marco Rubio, Mike Lee and Rand Paul, have voiced concerns that the bill would allow Democrats to reinstate the funding once it has passed.

While the marathon speech was always destined to be futile, it was seen as a harbinger of future difficulties in achieving a swift resolution to the US debt ceiling worries.

The dollar made some gains against the yen, with gains capped by debt ceiling concerns. The Japanese government signalled that it was considering a corporate tax cut, as well as removing a temporary tax hike. The proposed move could be to soften the blow ahead of a planned sales tax increase.

USD/JPY climbed to an Asia session high of JPY98.7850,

In Australia, job vacancies for the third quarter rose 3.1 percent after falling 7.3 percent in last quarter. However, Australian markets tend to focus on the ANZ Job Advertisement Series.

AUD/USD made minor gains to AUD0.9381 from a low of AUD0.9349.