Forex trading headlines for Asia Monday 02 June 2014
Weekend:
- SNB’s Jordan says they will maintain an “appropriate” monetary policy
- Morgan Stanley mulls ECB FX intervention
- China’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for May: 50.8 (vs. 50.7 expected)
- People’s Bank of China (PBOC) to boost lending to small firms
- Juncker faces increased opposition in bid to become EU Commission’s next president
Monday:
- Reports Spain is planning to launch a €6.3 billion ($8.59 billion) economic stimulus package
- Australia – AIG Performance of Manufacturing index for May: 49.2 (vs. prior was 44.8)
- Australia RPData/Rismark house price index for May: -1.9% (vs. prior was +0.3%)
- Japan – quarterly capital spending data, for Q1 2014: +7.4% y/y (vs. +5.8% expected)
- Australia – TD Securities/Melbourne Institute (MI) Inflation Gauge for May: +0.3% m/m
- Australia – Building approvals for April: -5.6% m/m (vs. expected +2.0%) and more here
- Japan – Markit/JMMA Manufacturing PMI: 49.9 (vs. 49.9 flash reading)
- FX Funds Extend Losses – April was the worst month for global currency managers since the start of the year
The Nikkei stock index in Japan hit an 8-week high today, and USD/JPY went along for the ride, trading a little higher to begin the week as it ticked above 102.00. Traders were happy that the China manufacturing PMI improved (data out over the weekend, see bullets, above).
Despite the better Chinese weekend data, though, the AUD/USD could not approach the highs it saw on Friday, drifting down a few points from the 0.9320 early high (hit in very low liquidity conditions prior to the Sydney opening with New Zealand markets closed for a holiday today). The release of the day’s major data point, April building approvals, showed the third consecutive drop in this series … and the AUD followed suit by dropping on the data print.
EUR, CHF and GBP softened during the session, but moves were not large. EUR/USD recovered somewhat from its lows, but Cable has barely managed to do so (as of writing).
