Forex news for Asia trading on Friday 23 July 2021
- Taiwan to lower its COVID-19 alert level
- A round-up of a few outlooks and price forecasts for oil
- Bitcoin on the move, approaching $33K
- Semiconductor shortage - Intel sees more supply constraints ahead
- New Zealand has suspended its quarantine-free travel bubble with Australia
- Australia coronavirus - Lockdown of the country's largest city, Sydney, will extend past the end of July
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY reference rate for today at 6.4650 (vs. yesterday at 6.4651)
- Australia coronavirus - NSW / Sydney report another increased number of new cases
- UK daily coronavirus testing to combat the 'pingdemic'
- TD sees EUR staying in established range after ECB meeting
- South Korea - Seoul area coronavirus restrictions to be extended for another 2 weeks
- UK Times - Northern Ireland threatens to stymie ‘unacceptable’ Brexit deal
- Australian lockdown state Victoria records a lower number of new cases
- UK data - GfK Consumer Confidence for July: -7 (expected -8)
- Australia Markit preliminary PMIs for July: Manufacturing 56.8 (prior 58.6) Services 44.2 (prior 56.8)
- Responses to the ECB: New inflation target "very close to those used by other central banks"
- Vítor Constâncio (ex ECB VP) says he is worried about the future mix of policy instruments
- Just waking up? Here's the TL;DR version of the European Central Bank decision
- Trade ideas thread - Friday 23 July 2021
- Covid passports are catching on - Italy next
Forex ranges were very limited during the session here in Asia. It was a Japanese market holiday again today which did sap some liquidity and interest. The Tokyo Olympic Games opened.
Data flow was light. Australia's flash PMIs for July were published (Markit/IHS PMIs) showing a collapse for the services result, hardly unexpected given widespread shutdowns across much of the country during the month. Speaking of shutdowns, another rise for the Sydney/NSW new case numbers for the preceding 24 hours has cemented a further extension of lockdown restrictions, which will now continue into August (at least). Sydney's restrictions were also further tightened. On a less dour note new case numbers reported in the State of Victoria (second-largest population state behind NSW) and South Australia fell below yesterday's.
Bitcoin moved a little higher. Twitter CEO said his firm would have more uses for the cryptoo ahead but his impact was small compared to comments from Musk.
