Forex news for Asian Pacific trading on February 24, 2020
- Australia raises travel advisory to South Korea, Japan
- Non-local residents of Wuhan allowed to leave if not under medical observation/quarantine
- PBOC's Chen: Reviewing whether to cut benchmark deposit rate
- Mainland China reports 77,150 infected and 2592 deaths
- New Zealand to extend travel ban on foreigners arriving from mainland China
- New Zealand credit card spending for January 1.3% vs -0.9% in December
- South Korea coronavirus infected rises to 763 up 161
- PBOC sets USDCNY reference rate for today at 7.0246 (vs yesterday at 7.021)
- So. Korea Kospi opens lower by 2.3% on coronavirus spreading
- China trade Council issues 3325 force majeure certificates
- UK's Telegram: Boris Johnson to kick start trade talks with US within a fortnight
- New Zealand retail sales ex inflation 0.7% versus 0.8% estimate
- Bernie Sanders wins again in Nevada on Saturday and continues his early momentum
- Comments from Treasury Secretary Mnuchin from the G20 in Saudi Arabia
- G20 cites virus risks. JPY is higher, AUD and NZD are lower
- BOJ Kuroda from G20: No change in growth outlook for moderate recovery
In other markets:
- Spot gold is trading up $19.17 or 1.17% at $1662.50
- WTI crude oil futures are trading down -$1.23 or -2.3% at $52.15
The week is starting on some shaky footings as fears from the coronavirus spreading is putting pressure on stocks, sending gold higher, oil lower and hurting the NZD, CAD and AUD, while supporting the USD.
Although the China numbers of infected have slowed of late, and that has led to an easing of some alerts in some cities/provinces in China, the G20 over the weekend did cite virus risks in their comminique, and the spread in places like South Korea and Italy has traders worried of a worsening trend elsewhere.
South Korea announced that he infected rose to 763, up 161 on the day. Last week, the infected was less than 10.
In Italy over the weekend the total number of cases rose to 152 with 3 confirmed deaths. Austria temporarily stopped train traffic to Italy but has since rescinded that order.
In Iran there were 43 confirmed cases and 8 deaths. Other countries imposed travel and immigration restrictions. The US CDC call coronavirus a tremendous public health threat.
Equities have been hit with the South Korean Kospi leading the way lower. It is currently trading down over -3.10% on the day. The Hang Seng is down about -1.5%. The Australian S&P/ASX index is lower by -2.1%.
In the US, the futures are pointing toward another down day after the -1.79% decline in the Nasdaq and the -1.05% in the S&P indices on Friday. A snapshot of the futures have the Dow futures down -1.37%, S&P futures down -1.38% and NASDAQ futures down in additional -1.8%.
Gold, which is currently up $19.17 at $1662.50, reached an even higher high of $1679.70 on frantic buying early in the session. The price action has since calmed down, but the most of the gains are still in place. The price also maintains a price gap between $1649.26 and $1651.92. It will take a filling, and move below that gap to hurt the bullish bias.
A look at the strongest and weakest of the major currencies is showing the JPY and USD as the strongest of the major currencies, while the NZD, CAD and AUD are the weakest. The NZDUSD has fallen by -0.41% in trading so far today. The NZDJPY is down -0.45% on the day.
It is not a great start for the week as fears of a spreading virus has traders leaning toward an increasing risk off bias.
