Forex news for Asia trading Friday 20 September 2019
- NZ data - Credit card spending for August: +2.4% m/m(prior -1.8% m/m)
- Japan's foreign minister says he will speak with Iran, seek to defuse tensions
- Federal Reserve speakers on the agenda for Friday -
- CAD traders - preview of retail sales data due Friday
- China lowers one year lending rate to 4.20% from 4.25%
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY reference rate for today at 7.0730 (vs. yesterday at 7.0732)
- FX option expiries for Friday September 20 for the 10am NY cut
- BOJ has cut its purchase amount of JGBs at today's operation
- Ex-IMF & soon to be ECB Prez Lagarde says global growth is fragile
- NAB is also calling for the next RBA rate cut in October
- White House trade adviser Navarro says the Fed is costing the US a full point of GDP growth
- Japan CPI data keeps BOJ under pressure to do more
- More from Citi on the upcoming RBA rate cut in October
- Japanese media - North Korea may be preparing a submarine capable of launching SLBM
- Japan August headline CPI 0.3% y/y vs. expected 0.3%
- HSBC on the FOMC - not a game changer
- Citi brings its RBA rate cut call forward to October (from November)
- US-China trade talks: a Chinese delegation will visit American farms next week
- Saudi-led coalition launches military operation in Yemen
- BoA say the Federal Reserve should be wary of collateral damage
- German finance ministry report highlights weakness
- GBP levels to watch if Brexit news turns sour
- NZD traders heads up preview for the RBNZ coming up September 25
- Huawei has delayed sale of smartphones in Europe citing US ban on access to Google
- Brexit - Its getting harder to ignore bullish developments for GBP/USD
- Trade ideas thread - Friday 20 September 2019
- Range forecast for EUR/USD in the week ahead
A couple of items to note during Asia today. Firstly, the Bank of Japan cuts its purchases of JGBs across the 3 maturities it was buying today, in effect sending a message that it wants a steeper curve and its tools remain useful. Yen is little changed for the day, USD/JPY has dipped from highs just above 108.05 to under 107.95 as I update. CPI data from Japan showed results a little under the previous month's readings.
In Australia we saw more banks moving their RBA rate cut forecasts to October (the Reserve Bank of Australia meeting is October 1) from November, and other revisions moving calls sooner (see bullets above). AUD/USD fell to lows under 0.6780 during morning trade but has come back a little towards 0.6795. NZD/USD fell on the session also and is barely off its lows around 0.6290 as I update.
The People's Bank of China left onshore yuan basically unchanged (2 tics change) at the mid-rate setting. The monthly setting of the loan prime rate that followed soon after saw a 5bp reduction for one year loans and unchanged for 5 years. The LPR, we are told, is a market-based rate representative of actual rates charged by banks, as opposed to the policy rate MLF, which has not been cut despite many expectations it will be.
There were reports of USD demand seeping into swaps markets and thus supporting the USD. While some currencies fell against the dollar early as I post EUR, CHF, GBP are all better bid against it. AUD has recovered somewhat. Yen is tiny up also. CAD and NZD are laggards. Gold has had an upmove for the session.
EUR up on the session:
