Forex trading headlines for Asia Thursday 3 July 2014

I wrote this prior to Steven’s speech:

Given the AUD has weakened after the trade data, it wouldn’t surprise me if Stevens took the opportunity to give it another kick while it was down. As a central banker concerned about how high the currency is, it would seem the responsible thing to do … not doing so would seem irresponsible even.

And, that’s exactly how it played out.

RBA Governor Stevens took a leaf from the book of Graeme Wheeler, governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, and gave the currency a kick when it was vulnerable. Who knows how long it will last, but it was enough to knock 60 points off the AUD/USD (and therefore AUD crosses too by various amounts).

Data flow in the AUD today was otherwise mixed, retail sales data was very week but the building approvals data rebounded (see bullets, above). but it was Stevens who was the star of the show. The AUD/USD still hasn’t managed to bounce (and it appears very much like more downside is the weak side in London).

Meanwhile …

NZD/USD lost ground as the AUD fell, dropping about 20+ points but rebounding to be mid-range as of writing.

USD/JPY ticked out a small gain in the morning but has given much of it back (we’re talking up 13 or so points, that’s all). EUR/JPY followed a similar sort of pattern, finding sellers above 139.10.

EUR/USD had a slow drift a little lower, off about 10 or so points. Cable, too dropped, off just a little more than 10 points and then bounced back. It too finishes (as of writing) in about the middle of its range.

Oil and gold both drifted lower.