Forex news for Asia trading Friday 30 January 2015
- Reuters poll: Japan fund managers cut global stock weighting
- Terry McCrann … doesn’t know absolutely there will be a cut from the Reserve Bank of Australia
- Bloomberg survey: 6 of 27 economists surveyed see RBA rate cut on February 3
- BNP Tokyo economist, oil drop a positive for Japan, doesn’t see further BOJ stimulus
- World Bank says lower oil creates net growth benefit globally
- New Zealand M3 money supply for December: +6.3% y/y (vs. prior +5.8%)
- China PMI data due out over the weekend
- Oil price fall a “tremendous favourable supply shock”
- Australia Q4 PPI: +0.1% q/q (+0.2% prior)
- Japan data – Industrial production (prelim) for December: 1.0% m/m (vs. 1.2% expected)
- Forex technical analysis (VIDEO): 6 currency pairs in 6 minutes
- Japan data out now – household spending, jobless rate, and more
- Japan December CPI: 2.4% m/m (expected 2.3%) … if you strip out the impact of the sales tax hike back in April of 2014, as the BOJ will, it’s a +0.5% reading y/y on for the core inflation measure … which would be lowest since June of 2013
- Bloomberg says it may be time for a new Plaza Accord
- RBA rate cut? JP Morgan expect so in May and June, not earlier
- New Zealand December Building Consents (Permits): -2.1% m/m (prior +10.0%)
The focal point for Asian FX markets today was the Japanese CPI, with maybe the interview with an Aussie journalist on SkyNews a distant second.
The Japanese CPI data for December was a disappointing result yet again, with the core CPI (as measured in Japan, which excludes food but includes energy) at +0.5% y/y (after the sales tax hike is accounted for). Over the course of the session, though the yen found some strength. Check out the link to the data for more details and also BNP Tokyo economist, oil drop a positive for Japan, doesn’t see further BOJ stimulus.
USD/JPY and yen crosses lost some ground overall, and it would seem some unwinding of the USD strength overnight was a contributor.
While EUR and GBP edged just a tiny bit higher (and USD/CHF lost some ground, but the CHF continues in a world of its own at present it seems), AUD and NZD both continued ther bounce that started mid-afternoon eastern US time.
AUD/USD is encountering solid offering interest ahead of 0.7800, though, which held its rise all day. NZD, similarly, offered for now ahead of 0.73.
Oil was more or less flat, gold edged back a few bucks higher (but not a lot in it).
The Australian journalist who was ‘almost certain’ an RBA rate cut is coming next week and whose column on Wednesday corresponded with a hard drop in the AUD, got a gig on a SkyNews interview today. He back pedaled just a little (to be fair, not a lot) (see bullets, above) … AUD/USD was basically unchanged on his comments today. Fifteen minutes of fame. Over. (ps. he’ll be back
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