Forex news for Asia trading Thursday 20 February 2020
- ICYMI: US officials to discuss further curbs on exports to Huawei and China on Thursday
- Japan Chiba earthquake (China prefecture covers eastern outskirts of Tokyo)
- Saudi oil minister comments on coronavirus indicate his concern is rising
- Responses to the AUD jobs report out earlier: "calls into question the RBA’s optimism"
- S&P ratings agency says coronavirus impact could double China problem loans
- Japan says 2 people from the coronavirus cruise ship have died
- Mainland China official coronavirus cases increase by 394 as of end February 19
- AUD/USD has hit its lowest since 2009, nudging 0.6650
- China 1-year loan prime rate (LPR) 4.05% (vs. expected 4.05%) & 5 year is 4.75% (expected 4.75%)
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY reference rate for today at 7.0026 (vs. yesterday at 7.0012)
- FX option expiries for Thursday February 20 at the 10am NY cut
- South Korean coronavirus infection number has jumped to
7382 - Australia 'trend' labour market numbers are a little steadier
- AUD wobble a little lower on a mixed labour market report
- Australian unemployment rate 5.3% (vs. 5.2% expected & prior of 5.1%)
- German police confirm 8 people killed in mass shooting
- Recapping the FOMC minutes - no material communication shifts … somewhat stale
- Here is how China's health authority has changed the classification for coronavirus infections, again
- Coronavirus - China's Global Times says "actual number of overall infections ... unknown"
- China's Hubei province coronavirus infection update: 349 new cases on Feb 19, 108 deaths
- Analyst cuts forecast from Canadian GDP citing impact of railway protests
- Goldman Sachs on US equities: Risk is that the impact of the coronavirus on earnings is being underestimated
- AUDUSD trades near lows since 2009 ahead of employment data
- Trade ideas thread - Thursday 20 February 2020
- NZ producer price inflation data for Q4 2019
- Private oil data shows build in headline crude oil inventory
- S&P and NASDAQ close at record levels
We had some movement in the Asian timezone today after the huge surge for USD/JPY in Europe/US time Wednesday. USD/JPY tested down towards 111.10 and held just above there before heading back towards 111.50. News and data flow from Japan was sparse today although later in the session we did get news of deaths from the coronavirus cruise ship (see bullets above). In South Korea the number of cases nearly doubled from yesterday.
The AUD, too, was a mover, from a high just below 0.6700 it dropped on the release of the January employment report. The report was mixed but did headline an increase in the unemployment rate, more than expected. This was enough to drop AUD and it continued its slide to near 0.6630 before stabilising somewhat as I update. The weaker AUD dragged NZD down with it.
Note, the People's Bank of China cut their one and five-year loan prime rates today, as was widely expected. A cut of 0.1% and 0.05% respectively. Which does not seem much but those numbers were the expected and perhaps there is more to come.
Weaker also for EUR and GBP against the USD today though the range of the moves were not large for these two.
Gold traded around USD1610 for the session.
