Forex news for Asia trading Wednesday 20 February 2019
- NAB on the yen, Japan's trade deficit, and Bank of Japan more easing threats
- Fortescue says still strong demand for seaborne iron ore from China
- US govt offices (DC area) will be closed February 20 due to severe weather
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY mid-point today at 6.7558 (vs. yesterday at 6.7642)
- BOJ head Kuroda will speak again today. Yesterday he talked down the yen. - speaks from 0530GMT
- Former Fed Chair Yellen cautions on US request for China to manipulate the yuan
- Australia Wage Price Index for Q4 2018: 0.5% q/q (expected 0.6%)
- Musk says Tesla will make around half a million cares this year
- Brexit, more from UK's Hammond - EU will not consider replacing backstop with an alternative now
- Kuroda jawboned the yen yesterday. Expect more.
- Japan trade balance for January: Y -1415.2bn (expected Y -1029.1bn)
- UBS (fund manager) says the Japanese yen is the most undervalued major currency
- Australia Westpac–MI Leading Index (January): -0.01% m/m (prior -0.21%)
- Japanese firms with a subdued outlook for capex, wage growth
- UK's Hammond says no deal Brexit would be a calamity for the UK and EU
- Blackrock on 'stabilise the yuan', and the currencies that'll benefit
- Dutch MPs warn EU to brace for no-deal Brexit after 'alarming' meetings in Westminster
- UK PM May mulling bring forward Brexit vote to next week
- Brexit - Another one bites the dust (Another Labour MP has quit the party)
- Trade ideas thread - Wednesday 20 February 2019
- NZ PPI for Q4: Output 0.8% (prior 1.5%) Input 1.6% (prior 1.4%)
Yen was a mover in the session here, weakening further on a combination of factors:
- Firstly, news from the US time zone that the US wants China to keep its currency stable (as part of trade agreements) reverberated here in Asia today. The yuan gained further strength.
- Japan's trade balance hit another big deficit, prompting speculation the BOJ will take further easing actions to support the economy as offshore demand wavers.
- Compounding the poor data was news hitting that Bank of Japan Governor Kuroda would appear in parliament again today. You may recall he jawboned the yen lower when he appeared yesterday, thoughts are he could well do the same today (stay tuned, appearing from 0530GMT).
111 proved a step too far for USD/JPY, it topped out just above 110.90 and has since dropped 20-odd points from its earlier high.
EUR, GBP, AUD, NZD all tried a little higher during the session here (to varying degrees of success) but as I post there is little net change for them against the USD.
CAD was a performer, USD/CAD is lower on the day here, extending its slide during US trade.
AUD/USD lost some ground on the release of Q4 wages data here (see bullets above), but the impact was short lived with it trading back above 0.7170. Its just under there now on what has been, after all, a small range session for it.
As mentioned, the yuan consolidated its gains, up more during the session:
Still to come:
