Forex trading headlines for Asia Monday 5 May 2014
Weekend:
- Chinese non-manufacturing (services) PMI for April: 54.8 (vs. March was 54.5)
- OSCE observers are released in Slaviansk
- Ukraine’s anti-terrorist centre reports heavy fighting in eastern town of Kramatorsk
- UK opposition Labour party calls for inquiry into Pfizer’s bid for Astrazeneca
- Fed’s Fisher says economy “moving the right direction” and more here
Monday:
- Weekend press: BoE eyes moves to cool housing market
- BOJ governor Kuroda on CNBC: Private economists underestimate Japan and more here
- Australia – AIG Performance of Services index for April: 48.6 (vs. prior 48.9)
- China home sales data
- China’s deposit reserve ratio is relatively high
- China Railway Corp to boost its full-year fixed asset investment target
- China Securities Journal editorial: China’s property boom has probably reached its peak
- Australia – TD securities inflation data for April: +0.4% m/m (vs. +0.2% prior) and more here
- China Securities Journal reports on the property market in China’s tier-one cities
- Australian Building approvals for March: -3.5% m/m (vs. expected 1.5%)
- Australia – ANZ job advertisements data April: 2.2% m/m (prior was 1.4% m/m)
- China – HSBC/Markit Manufacturing PMI for April: 48.1 (expected 48.4)
Asian markets were open today, except for a Golden Week day off in Japan, with China returning after a holiday on Thursday and Friday last week. Forex liquidity was thinned out somewhat by Japan’s absence but, hey, we got some movement!
EUR/USD had a small move higher in very early New Zealand, briefly above 1.3885 before settling back around Friday closing levels and even losing a few points during the rest of the session (not much in it, though). The CHF followed a similar sort of pattern in a similarly tight range. Cable, not much different.
USD/JPY lost ground after sitting around Friday’s lows for most of the morning time, the HSBC China manufacturing PMI (final reading, see bullets, above) a catalyst for a move down through 102 as regional stock markets dropped away on the release also.
NZD/USD was quietly range-bound.
AUD/USD didn’t let us down, though, opening with a sharp burst to above 0.9300 in the early NZ trade (0.9317 trading in the twilight zone there). It soon shook off that move though, settling just below 0.9295 and then drifting lower as more of Asia got active. A 12-odd point grind up from morning lows as China headlines hit the wires, and private-sector inflation data was reported (see bullets, above … no, seriously, read about the TD inflation gauge in the links above … after recent tame official data this raised a few eyebrows) was soon followed by a sharp move lower on the later building approvals data disappointment (see bullets, above) and then the HSBC manufacturing PMI. It found support ahead of 0.9250.
AUD/JPY saw some selling through the session, other yen crosses were also somewhat lower because of … well … math.
