Forex news for Asia trading Wednesday 12 November 2014
- Japan – Sankei reports that Abe is to dissolve parliament this month
- Japan – Sankei reports that Abe is to postpone sales tax rise to April 2017
- RBNZ Governor Wheeler: Housing market pressures have eased
- Australia – Westpac November Consumer Confidence Index +1.9% m/m (prior +0.9%)
- More from RBNZ Governor Wheeler: NZ dollar is still overvalued
- Japan data – September Tertiary Industry index & October money stock
- China Business Daily: China provinces may lower 2015 GDP targets vs, 2014
- Australia data – Q3 wage growth and credit card spending
- Reports of an earthquake in Tokyo
- BOJ board member Miyao: Economy recovering moderately as a trend
- BOJ adviser: Japan sales tax delay would hurt fiscal trust
- Japan – Abe adviser says sales tax hike should be delayed by 18 months
- Japan chief government spokesman, denies media reports on sales tax-hike delay
- and more from Suga here Japan chief cabinet secretary Suga says he is not preparing for elections ‘at all’
- Japan govmt sources: Japan to meet 15/16 deficit reduction target even if hike postponed
- Japan – Honda: Yen stable at 115 would cause recovery of Japan firms
- TD Securities says RBNZ will keep cash rate at 3.5% until Sep. 2015
- Nishimura; Weak yen positive for Japan economy as a whole but ready to take steps to respond to negative effects
- U.S., China announce ambitious climate goals – cuts to greenhouse gas emissions
It was a yen day in Asia, with headlines pushing and pulling on the currency. It all started early with Sankei reports hitting the newswires that Abe would dissolve parliament this month and also that the next sales tax hike would be postponed until April of 2017 (see bullets, above). The was enough to stick a bid under USD/JPY and yen crosses, sending USD/JPY up to 116 again before it stabilised around 115.80. There were numerous comments and headlines crossing the wires, but the next big one came from Japan’s chief cabinet secretary Suga, who said he is not preparing for an election at all, and also denying reports on a delay to the sales tax hike (see bullets, above). The drove USD/JPY as low as 115.25 (briefly) before stabilising again then grinding it out back higher but falling short of 116.
Elsewhere on the currencies, AUD/USD was notably weaker than many others, but EUR/USD and cable were both down from late NY highs. NZD was a better performer than most.
Oil and gold were both mainly flat on the session, with barely a wiggle.
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Still to come – a big one from the BoE!
