Forex news for Asia trading on Monday 10 May 2021

US pipeline news (read from the bottom for the chronological order of posts):

Other:

GBP opened little changed in the early hours of Monday here but soon caught a bid. Scottish weekend elections were the focus heading into the weekend and the results leave a potential independence referendum in question ahead. Cable has topped out just above 1.4040 on the session here.

USD/JPY traded higher on the session also, retracing a portion of the plunge that followed the US nonfarm payroll report on Friday. USD/JPY registered a high just over 108.90 so far for the session in Asia.

Thus GBP/JPY was a solid gainer on the day. Moves for other major FX were more subdued.

That was not the case in commodities though. Iron ore, steel rebar rocketed higher, limit up in China. Dalian hog futures dropped.

In oil markets (oil products really) the news was of a cyber attack shutting down a major network of pipelines responsible for supplying around 50% of US east coast gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.

On the data front the focus was Australian business confidence and conditions both hitting record highs. Also from Australia were retail sales data, April and Q1, both just a little on the disappointing side (see bullets above). AUD/USD is little net changed on the day so far.

In the crypto space BTC traded higher on Monday Asia time, as did DOGE (after dropping over the weekend on Elon Musk's 'Saturday Night Live' appearance).

The People's Bank of China set the reference rate for onshore yuan at its strongest (lowest for USD/CNY) since early February today. The 'but' is that the reference rate set today for the onshore yuan was not as strong as was expected (6.4425 vs. the Bloomberg survey estimate of 6.4370), which indicates the central bank is likely looking to slow the rise of the currency.

Regional equities:

  • Japan's Nikkei +0.8%, Topix +1%

  • China's Shanghai Composite +0.25%

  • Hong Kong's Hang Seng -0.09%

  • Australia's S&P/ASX 200 +1.05%

DOGE:

Forex news for Asia trading onMonday10May 2021