Forex news for Asia trading for Tuesday 23 February 2021

It was quite the mixed bag for FX here in Asia trade:

  • AUD was strong early, popping to a fresh high (compared to its overnight range higher) above 0.7930 before dropping back to be straddling 0.7910 as I post. News of a (very small) boost to the unemployment benefit to help ease the expiration of fiscal jobs support at the end of March helped the currency rise but as I said, its all been given back.
  • NZD/USD did not manage to rise much and has since dropped under 0.7320.
  • Cable is still in the middle of its session range, as is EUR/USD.
  • USD/CAD dropped under 1.2590 and is back straddling 1.26. Bank of Canada Governor Macklem speaks Tuesday, CAD time.
  • USD/JPY and USD/CHF have not seen much activity.

Oil prices continued to rise during the session here following their solid gains during US trade.

Bitcoin had a wild run on Monday US time and has pulled back from its bounce high circa $54.9K to under 52K and is just above there as I post. Gold steadied around its recent high.

News and data flow was light indeed. The People's Bank of China strengthened the onshore yuan at its daily reference rate setting more than was expected.

Forex news for Asia tradingfor Tuesday23February 2021