Forex news for Asia trading on Thursday 22 July 2021
- Saudi Aramco hack, $50 million ransom demand
- If there is some good news in Sydney's surging COVID outbreak it is that vaccination works
- China's yuan has hit a fresh 5 year high (trade weighted basket)
- Head of Australian airline Qantas flags a fresh round of worker layoffs if lockdowns persist
- Australian data - preliminary trade figures for June show a record surplus
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY reference rate for today at 6.4651 (vs. yesterday at 6.4835)
- Australia coronavirus - Worst day yet for state of NSW / Sydney as cases jump again
- More from Biden - some evidence that government benefits have given people an incentive not to go back to work
- Reports - HK banks have stopped approving some mortgages for properties being developed by China Evergrande
- US President Biden says most experts believe long term inflation is not likely to get out of hand
- Fitch Ratings affirms Korea at "AA-" with a Stable Outlook
- Japanese PM Suga to negotiate early delivery of 20m Pfizer vaccine doses
- ECB policy meeting Thursday 22 July 2021 - no change in settings expected - preview
- Australia coronavirus - locked-down state Victoria records another increase in new cases
- ICYMI - Trade Representative Tai says the US backs Australia in trade disputes with China
- ECB monetary policy meeting Thursday 22 July 2021 - preview (cheat sheet)
- US infrastructure - 2 hours after the vote failed the positive hype has begun again
- Senior Australian politicians have had 'discussions' with the Governor and Deputy Governor of the RBA
- Crypto - Coinbase says its experiencing connection issues that may impact transfers
- Goldman Sachs survey highlights 'family office' funds like Bitcoin
- More easing ahead from the People's Bank of China? Check out the chart that suggests 'yes'.
- Trade ideas thread - Thursday 22 July 2021
Regional equities had another positive session today, China and Hong Kong rising following the lead of Wall Street on Wednesday. Japanese markets were closed for a holiday and will be again tomorrow. US overnight equity index futures rose on Globex but have been sideways the past couple of hours. Oil tracked mainly sideways.
The FX space was characterised by small range trading. USD/JPY has drifted from highs just under 110.30 to peek just under 110.10 and is only just above here as I post. Ahead of the ECB policy meeting EUR/USD barely managed a 10 point range just under 1.1800. NZD/USD has drifted 20 or so points down from early highs circa 0.6970 while AUD/USD is little net changed. Little change also for USD/CAD and cable.
News and data flow was light but should pick up with the European Central Bank statement and Lagarde's news conference still to come on Thursday.
NZD/JPY turned a little lower: