Forex news from the Asian trading session - 10 May 2018
Headlines:
- BOJ's Kuroda says too early to lay out conditions for exiting easy policy
- More from Kuroda: Inflation expectations are emerging from weakness but remains flat
- BOJ's Kuroda says that will continue powerful monetary easing
- China says they are preparing for next round of trade talks with US
- RBNZ's Orr says that exchange rate has been 'very well behaved'
- China April CPI 1.8% vs 1.9% y/y expected
- RBNZ's Orr: Policy needs to be expansionary to lift inflation
- PBOC sets USD/CNY reference rate at 6.3768 vs 6.3733 yesterday
- Malaysia writes a new chapter in the history book
- BOJ summary of opinions: BOJ must maintain powerful monetary easing
- Current account balance Japan for March ¥3122.3 billion vs ¥2899 billion est.
- UK RICS house price index for April -8% vs -1% estimate
- LIVE RBNZ press conference with Adrian Orr
- N. Korea Kim: N.Korea/US summit will be excellent first meeting
- Monetary Policy Statement from the RBNZ
- The RBNZ keeps the official cash rate unchanged at 1.75%
Markets:
- CAD leads, NZD lags behind on the day
- Asian equities higher on the day, Hang Seng leads with +0.88% gains
- Gold up by 0.10% to $1,314.00
- WTI up by 0.84% to $71.75
- US 10-year yields down by 2 bps to 2.982%
- Bitcoin up by 0.86% to $9,327
The main story of the session was the RBNZ shifting to a more dovish stance in its monetary policy meeting today. The central bank revised lower its inflation forecast and pushed back its inflation target outlook, while adding that the next rate move - whether up or down - is equally balanced.
The latter put together with a signal of a lower inflation view led the kiwi to fall heavily on the day. NZD/USD continues to trade near the lows at 0.6920 currently. The low for the day was 0.6917. Meanwhile, AUD/NZD rose to break above the 100-day moving average for the first time since the end of January.
Apart from that, there is minor dollar weakness across the board but nothing too notable. The loonie leads the way as oil prices continue to soar, with both WTI and Brent touching their highest levels since November 2014 - up by 0.8% and 0.7% respectively at the moment.
And in the region, Malaysia's 14th general election saw Tun Mahathir's opposition coalition oust Najib Razak's party - which has been ruling the country for over six decades - by gaining a simple majority.
