Forex trading headlines for Asia Tuesday 30 September 2014
- New Zealand – August Building Consents: 0.0% m/m (vs. expected flat at 0.0% )
- UK data – GfK Consumer Confidence for September: -1 (vs. expected 0)
- Japan data – household spending and employment for August
- Japan data – August retail trade and industrial production
- New Zealand – ANZ business confidence and activity outlook data
- PBOC branch cuts downpayment required to purchase a second home
- China bank says PBOC unlikely to cut system-wide interest rates or the deposit reserve ratio
- Japan – Labor Cash earnings y/y for August: +1.4% (vs. expected +0.9%)
- Australia – Private Sector Credit m/m for August, +0.4% (vs. expected +0.6%) and more here
- China data – HSBC manufacturing PMI for September (final): 50.2 (vs. flash was 50.5)
- New Zealand August M3 money supply +5.2% y/y (vs. +5.3% in July)
- Japan economy minister Amari: Economy struggling slightly to rebound from slump
- Japan finance minister Aso: Job market conditions steadily improving
A little USD weakness in Asia today across the board, with a 40 or so point rally for cable from earlier lows, EUR/USD up around 20 from its lows, and USD/JPY dropping 30 points from earlier highs around 109.50. USD/CAD was off 20 or so points, and USD/CHF down about 15.
It was the AUD and NZD, though that performed best. AUD/USD dropped to session lows in mid-morning Sydney time, not quite managing to test yesterday’s lows, but only about 10 points off there. It then gained to above 0.8720 before a wobble and then a more sustained gain through to above 0.8760. Lending data from the RBA and HSBC manufacturing PMI were both released (see bullets, above), the AUD higher despite weaker than expected headlines on both (but Australian investor lending now at highs not seen since march 2008 – see bullets.
NZD/USD, too, put on a bounce, from just below 0.7750 in gained to touch 0.7825before settling a little lower as I type.
