Forex news for Asia trading Monday 14 August 2017

Weekend:

The week kicked off in Asia with some yen weakness.

While the intensity of rhetoric surrounding North Korea has diminished only slightly there have been comments from US officials trying to ease fears. For example, CIA head Pompeo, and US national security adviser McMaster both said over the weekend there's no indication war will break out. 'Safe haven' flows into yen thus dialled back a little here in Asia today.

Japanese GDP data (Q2, preliminary) came in strong, but inflation is still very much missing, which would appear to be keeping BOJ easing efforts at the forefront (watch for continuing changes in tone on this, though). USD/JPY (and yen crosses) traded a little higher on the session; USD/JPY to circa 109.40 where it has since sat in a holding sideways pattern with little volatility.

EUR/USD, meanwhile, has done very little on the session at all, while USD/CHF has ticked a few pips to the better. Cable is a tad higher on the day also - see bullets above for some Brexit-related weekend headlines.

AUD/USD ticked a little higher also, NZD/USD is barely net changed on the session.

AUD/USD gained its few points despite China data today showing misses across the board (see bullets above for more detail). A better appetite for risk helping the AUD along.

Regional equities:

  • Nikkei -0.80%
  • Shanghai +0.43%
  • HK +1.21%
  • ASX +0.57%

More Brexit ... My country must come before my party if Theresa May sides with the hardliners, writes former minister ANNA SOUBRY