Forex news for Asia trading Wednesday 16 August 2017
- China regulator says rising stock indexes sign of reform success
- Wednesday in the US is FOMC (July meeting) minutes day - preview
- Jobs market report coming up from the UK today - preview
- Q2 GDP data coming up from Europe today - preview
- Westpac on the Reserve Bank of Australia
- Australia - Q2 Wage Price Index: 0.5% q/q (expected 0.5%)
- PBOC sets USD/CNY central rate at 6.6779 (vs. yesterday at 6.6689)
- BOJ reduces its 5-10 yr JGB buys to 440b yen (470b yen in prior operation)
- Australia - Westpac Leading Index (July): +0.12% m/m (prior -0.14%)
- RBNZ on its (and other CBs) inflation targeting practices
- China reclaims its position as the top foreign owner of US Treasuries
- IMF boost to its China GDP forecast - watch for comments today
- Britain seeks Brexit without borders for Northern Ireland
- BNZ on the dairy auction and the NZD
- USD/JPY - the tech levels for now and "Where to buy?" - NAB
- Overnight Australian press: "RBA finger on interest rate rise trigger as debt soars"
- The RBA will be watching the Australia Q2 wages data due today - preview
- Its Wednesday: a mid-week look at the stock market sellers & shorters; how they're faring
- Trade ideas thread - Wednesday 16 August 2017
- OIL - private inventory data shows much larger than expected draw in US crude inventory
Currencies were barely moving today in Asia. News and data flow was light indeed.
The yen weakened a little, USD/JPY to circa 110.75 before back to around 110.65 where it is as I write. A small range only.
EUR/USD, USD/CHF and cable are all barely changed.
AUD/USD moved a little higher on the session, from lows under 0.7820 to around 0.7835. Q2 wage data came in as expected, showing slow wage growth still (see bullets above).
Both CAD and NZD against the USD are also little changed.
The oil price popped upon release of the private inventory survey result at 4.30pm NY time, it came in at a draw of more than 9 million barrels against expectations centring around a 3.1mln barrel draw. Through the Asian session the price has drifted back to fill in the 'gap' and thence sideways. Official inventory data is due from the US Wednesday morning.
Regional equities:
- Nikkei 0.01%
- Shanghai -0.18%
- HK +0.58%
- ASX -0.10%
Still to come:
