Forex and Bitcoin news for Asia trading Monday 2 July 2018

German politics dominated early, this was the final post, it contains links to the story as it unfolded:

Brexit::

Other:

Bank notes:

There was forex movement right from the off in very early trade here in Asia, with EUR/USD down (other currencies also) and USD/JPY down (just a little).

EUR had benefited late late week on the migration deal reached at the EU summit, Merkel had been under pressure domestically, to the extent that there were questions over the stability of her government. The 'deal' dispelled the doubts on Friday, but they came back over the weekend. See the bullets above, but in a nutshell Merkel's coalition partner objected to the deal and its leader offered to resign. EUR went lower here in early trade. It recovered somewhat as it appeared the disagreement may be worked though but we are going to have to watch how this plays out today as Europe opens.

EUR/USD is mid-range (for the session) as I update.

Other currencies had weakened alongside the EUR (to varying extents), and recovered (ditto). The AUD/USD is particularly heavy though, it is on its session low as I post with little in the way of local news nor data (there were a few lower tier pieces, see above) to impact. The RBA meet tomorrow (see previews already posted) and appear likely to be on hold yet again.

China today - The PBOC set the onshore yuan rate barely changed, at a very slight appreciation in what appeared to be a cessation of devaluation pressures, or at least a relaxing of them. Over the weekend the PMI data came in mixed, manufacturing a touch softer (as was today's OPMI result also) while services up a touch.

USD/JPY made its own way today. It opened just a little down but came back well, up over 50 points and popping 111 at one stage (triggering stop buy orders). Japan's June quarter BOJ Tankan business survey showed business sentiment down a touch, but overall still solid, while capex intentions are up strongly. I don't know that the survey played too big a role in the yen movement.

Cable is a wee bit heavy as I post, though above earlier lows - there was the usual crop of Brexit related news out over the weekend - the country continues to stumble towards exit, ready or not.

Gold is down a few dollars.

Oil dropped - weekend reports Saudi to pump more output after Trump asked the King to bring down prices (see bullets above)

Still to come: