Forex and Bitcoin news for Asia trading Tuesday 23 January 2018
- A reminder on the loonie risk event this week
- Neil Diamond retires from touring - diagnosed with Parkinson's disease
- Yen gains on the day after BOJ announcement
- BOJ announce: No change to monetary policy
- Previews, heads up for BOJ announcement due soon. And something to watch on yen.
- Nearby significant option expiries today (and a sneak peek at coming days)
- A preview of the European Central Bank meeting coming up Thursday
- Some USD strength nearly across the board
- China - US tariff decision further deteriorates global trade environment
- More on the South Korea moves on real name crypto trading
- More on JPY from TD. 3 reasons (+1) USD/JPY has delinked from USTs, Nikkei
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY central rate at 6.4009 sterday at 6.4112)
- (Shock non-bitcoin news from South Korea!) SK seeks to reinstate tariffs on US products
- Cable had a look above 1.4
- TD on USD/JPY: Approaching key trend support, looks precarious
- South Korean press reports banks there to ban anon cryptocurrency accounts
- Ackman taking a bit of stick over his decision to cull staff
- Goldman Sachs on bitcoin - say one day we'll laugh about the bubble's insanity
- Its Bank of Japan day! Did the markets overreact in early January? Today we find out.
- Westpac on why the Australian dollar is so strong (AUD rise ahead of fair value model)
- Japan - Reuters Corporate Survey shows majority of firms still see deflation
- Technical analysis of what time to expect the BOJ announcement
- Hedge fund manager Ackman lays off 18% of Pershing Square staff
- Brexit: UK has already 'agreed in principle' with EU to Norway-style transition
- Australia - ANZ Roy Morgan weekly Consumer Confidence 119.4 (vs. prior 123.5)
- BOJ meeting today - here is what to expect in the announcement (and When!)
- Small earthquake near Christchurch, New Zealand
- Trade ideas thread - Tuesday 23 January 2018
- President Trump imposes 30% tariff on solar imports
- North Korea 'handful of months' away from ability to nuke mainland U.S. says CIA head
- NZ services PMI for December comes in at 56.0 (prior 56.4)
- Bitcoin nears $10,000 again as it slips to session low
- BOJ preview - BoJ likely to maintain extremely easy monetary policy
- ICYMI: South Korea won't ban cryptocurrency exchanges - it'll tax them instead
- US major indices close at record levels and at the highs.
- ForexLive Americas FX news wrap: Deal on govt shutdown, IMF raises growth estimate
- Fed's Goodfriend promises transparency and accountability in hearing
- Economic calendar due from Asia today - BOJ policy announcement the focus
The big news that hit late in the US session (and early Asia) wasn;t the end of the government shut down, it was the US imposition of swingeing tariffs on solar products ... and washing machines. The imposition was 'spun' (sry): as
- safeguard cases
- imported products "are a substantial cause of serious injury to domestic manufacturers"
Later in the session both South Korea and China responded, South Korea seeking to reinstate tariffs on US goods, China with strong words (at this stage at least)
- China - US tariff decision further deteriorates global trade environment
- SK seeks to reinstate tariffs on US products
There was very little in the way of other news, just various lower-tier data releases. South Korea had a bit to say on bitcoin, the government figures out it was better off taxing it than banning it. Dunno what took 'em so long (though the ploy of threatening a ban and then scaling it back to "Aw shucks, OK then, just a lil' tax" was a clever one). They'll also ban anonymous crypto trading accounts from January 30. More details in the bullet points, above.
And then a wait for the Bank of Japan announcement ... but more on that in a moment.
Currency moves; the AUD was a bit of a stand out. It shrugged off the earlier tariff news (not good for trade and not a positive for the AChina and thus the AUD, rising to circa 0.8030. The opening of Dalian commodity futures put a dampener on it, though, industrial commodities dropped (iron ore down more than 4.5% at one stage) and took the AUD on a slippery slide with them. Its back under 0.8 as I update, so not a huge move but notable nonetheless.
EUR, CHF, GBP are all little changed net on the session against the big dollar. CAD AND NZD .... well they had a wiggle but pretty much net unchanged also. Cable popped its head above 1.4 for a quick look but quickly dipped back under again.
BTC/USD has gained a bit over the session net.
The Bank of Japan left policy steady, as was unanimously expected. Forecasts in the updated outlook were left little changed. Despite the non-news the yen has gained a little after. USD/JPY was circa 110.90 prior to the announcement and dropped to be around 110.70-odd as I update:
