Forex news for Asia trading Friday 15 May 2020

Currencies were fairly through the session here following their rise during the US afternoon. There was one final small pop above the US high for EUR, GBP, AUD, NZD against the USD (USD/CAD vice versa dip) but this was soon reversed and all of these are on their session lows as I post, in limited ranges.

News flow was light only and, as you can see, of not much impact. On the data front the focus was on activity data from China for April. Industrial production for the month and YTD showed a handy beat of expectations, confirming the (albeit slow) recovery of supply we have been seeing. The demand side though is not so rosy. Retail sales for the month were another poor result and a miss on the central median estimate. Concerns over future economic conditions and employment are weighing on consumers in China, and elsewhere of course leading to more savings and less spending. Deflation seems entrenched for the months ahead.

Also from China today, the People's Bank of China conducted a one-year injection of funds via a 12-month MLF. 100nn yuan fell short of the 200bn yuan that matured in MLF on Thursday (see bullets above).

Japan lifted its coronavirus state of emergency in 39 prefectures, easing back on restrictions.

China retail sales: