Forex news for Asia trading Wednesday 23 September 2020
- Chinese state media United States actions on TikTok "almost the same as a gangster"
- More from the RBNZ on their policy decision today
- NZD up to a fresh session high following the RBNZ announcement
- RBNZ maintains cash rate, LSAP unchanged
- Australian (August preliminary) retail sales -4.2% m/m and +6.96% y/y
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY reference rate for today at 6.7986 (vs. yesterday at 6.7872)
- FX option expiries for Wednesday September 23 at the 10am NY cut
- Westpac forecasting an RBA rate cut on October 6
- Japan preliminary PMIs (September) Manufacturing 47.3 (prior 47.2) Services 45.6 (prior 45.0)
- US House votes to approve stopgap funding for the government - Senate yet to vote
- Citi on gold - bullish in the short-term and medium-term. Lift their 2021 forecast.
- NAB expects further RBA easing as soon as the first week of October
- Canadian PM Trudeau to address nation Wednesday on coronavirus
- Australia preliminary PMIs (September) Manufacturing 55.5 (prior 53.6), Services 50.0 (prior 49.0)
- Pelosi: Democrats and Republicans have reached an agreement on stopgap funding
- The trifecta of negatives weighing down GBP
- Response to RBA Debelle's speech - RBA is always too optimistic. (Also, AUD targets).
- JP Morgan highlight a tailwind for equities ... next week
- Recap of BoE Bailey speech - urges government to stop, collaborate, and listen
- ICYMI: Ford to invest $1.46 billion in Canada plants
- EuropeFX now supporting PayPal deposits
- Trade ideas thread - Wednesday 23 September 2020
- Private oil survey data shows a build in headline crude oil inventory
- More on tougher standards on a COVID-19 vaccine from the FDA, making pre election approval unlikely
USD strength extended a little further during the Asian timezone today, even against the yen. USD/JPY moved to a high circa 105.20 and as I update its drifted back to the middle of its range just under 105.10.
EUR, GBP, CHF, CAD and AUD are all lower against the big dollar. The Australian dollar was helped lower by a change in RBA forecast from Westpac, the bank now expecting further easing at the October 6 policy meeting. NAB are tipping either October or November. In addition to the change in expectations on central bank policy analysts elsewhere downgraded forecasts for the price of iron ore, not dramatically and following the price falls we have already seen.
NZD/USD traded lower with the stronger USD but did recover on the announcement of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand policy announcement (see bullets above, but the "in a nutshell" summary is no change was announced, as expected). As I update NZD/USD is mid-range for the session.
As a note, China has halted the import of seafood products from a Norwegian firm after coronavirus was found on packaging.
