Forex and Bitcoin news for Asia trading Thursday 2 August 2018
- Westpac says political uncertainty is casting doubt on the RBA's employment forecasts
- China State Planner says have ability to deal with external challenges
- Recap of BOJ's Amamiya speech earlier - BOJ will buy JGBs if yields rise rapidly
- BOJ's Amamiya: Will take time to hit 2% inflation, powerful easing appropriate
- Australian trade balance for June: AUD 1873m surplus (vs. expected surplus 900m)
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY mid-point today at 6.7942 (vs. yesterday at 6.8293)
- Some chatter on where the stops are in USD/JPY (you'll never guess … OK, you will)
- Here is why the confirmation on US 25% tariff proposal is having little impact
- Trade ideas thread - Thursday 2 August 2018
I am really clutching at straws placing that in the headline. Currency movement was tiny here for the session so far.
On the news front we had little new to go on. US officials confirmed the proposal to hike tariffs on China imports (the news broke in Asia 24 hours previously which kept the impact of the confirmation minimal). Later was a speech from Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Masayoshi Amamiya which provided little to add to the BOJ statement and Kuroda press conference two days ago.
Data came from Australia, showing a good size beat for the June trade balance (see bullet above). As the final month in Q2 the June result will make a positive contribution to the quarter's net exports into GDP.
As for currenices, like I said not a lot to report. The USD edged a few broad points higher. EUR, CAD, CHF, AUD, NZD all a few tics to the worse against the big dollar. Moves were small indeed.
USD/JPY is net little changed after a 15 or so point range.
The PBOC surprised (me at least) with a stronger mid rate for the onshore yuan today.
Gold added a few dollars, up around 4USD on the day to take the, ummm, gold medal for the session.
Ladies and gentlemen, there is plenty this Thursday still to come:
