Forex news for Asia-Pacific trading on February 11, 2020:
- Australia January NAB business conditions +3 vs +3 prior
- China reports 2,478 new coronavirus cases
- UK BRC sales like-for-like 0.0% vs +0.5% expected
- China HR ministry says overall jobs situation stable amid outbreak
- Trump: We should have a lower Fed rate right now
- PBOC sets yuan reference rate at 6.9897 vs 6.9863 yesterday
- China removes Hubei health commission head and party chief
- Australia December home loan value +4.4% m/m vs +1.6% expected
- Australia Roy Morgan weekly consumer confidence 107.8 vs 108.5 prior
Markets:
- Gold down $3 to $1568
- WTI crude oil up 56-cents to $50.13
- Shanghai Composite +0.3%
- AUD leads, CHF lags
Newsflow was light but there was a modest drift higher in risk trades as the Australian dollar perked up. AUD/USD rose above 0.6700 with a big expiry rolling off at that level tomorrow.
Notably, it's a holiday in Japan so that kept a lid on price action. The yen softened slightly and that was in line with a good tone in Asian equities. China started strongly but has given some of that back as the market plays a game of wait-and-see.
There certainly wasn't any coronavirus news to reverse sentiment so the market is primed for more of the recent trend. Watch out for US dollar selling if the coronavirus trade ever reverses.
The euro and pound have been quiet to start but it's a big day in UK economic data with GDP, trade data and industrial production to come. Last at 1.2913.
