Forex trading headlines for Asia Monday 23 June 2014
Flash HSBC China manufacturing PMI for June: 50.8 (vs. 49.7 expected)
- Japan Markit/JMMA Manufacturing PMI for June flash: 51.1 (prior was 49.9)
- China Beige Book says slowdown is deepening on weak investment
- New Zealand Credit card spending: +7.5% y/y (prior was +3.2%)
- Op-ed: “Rates need to go up, says BOE ‘dove’ David Miles”
- New Zealand – Net migration for May: +3980 (prior was +4080)
- Weekend: Bank of England’s Haldane says ‘new normal’ for rates
- Weekend: Cœuré says European leaders should not ease the rules for sovereign debt
- Bank of New Zealand now also saying the RBNZ will raise rates in July
- BNP is likely to face a temporary ban on transacting in US dollars
- ECB’s Draghi says large-scale asset purchases are in the tool box
- ECB’s Nowotny says interest rates unlikely to rise before 2016
- UK’s Cameron set to call for “unprecedented” vote on Juncker’s proposal
The market focus today was the China HSBC ‘Flash’ manufacturing PMI (more on that in a moment).
In the lead up to the China data markets were subdued, with the USD strengthening just a few points against the EUR, GBP and CHF. The moves were small, though, and going into the Chinese data the majors had become quieter.
AUD and NZD had found some support ahead of the data, the AUD more as it crept a little higher from morning weakness initially.
The ‘flash’ reading for the China manufacturing PMI came in well better than expected (see bullets, above). There was an immediate jump in the AUD, NZD, EUR… well, the list goes on. The CAD even got involved, and how, continuing to gain following its recent trend.
Sell orders in the market for the AUD were gobbled up as the buyers embraced the better Chinese data, other currencies gaining also. NZD/USD made a new high for the month, and USD/CAD continued to slip even further in its strong trend.
USD/JPY was a bit of a dull patch, the range was small as USD/JPY dropped away only a little. EUR/JPY was in a subdued range also.
Oil opened higher in Asia today and then range traded. Other commodities gained after the China data. Dalian iron ore futures up to a 2-week high, copper to a high since February. Equity markets, too, liked the data, Asian indices gaining.
