Forex news for Asia trading Friday 27 November 2015

  • Singapore - MAS annual Financial Stability Review
  • Yuan a shoo-in to enter IMF's SDR ... But weighting question could see a sharp move
  • Early indications for US Black Friday sales "crowds are good but not great"
  • More on the falling profits in China's industrial companies
  • Japan finance minister Aso: PM Abe has ordered an extra budget
  • An early heads up for the Australian GDP data - whats expected
  • Japan PM Abe orders extra FY2015 budget - Kyodo reporting
  • Japanese PM Abe to increase spending on social programs, raise minimum wage
  • China October industrial profits: -4.6 % y/y (-0.1% prior)
  • Japan data today, CPI, household spending and more .... recap
  • PBOC sets yuan reference rate for today at 6.3915
  • China targets at least 23,000 km of new railways 2016-2020 (2.8tln yuan investment)
  • UK data - GfK Consumer Confidence for November: 1 (expected 2)
  • EUR: The Quiet Before The Storm; How To Play It? - Credit Agricole
  • Japan October CPI: 0.3% y/y (expected 0.2%)
  • Japan data - Household Spending, Jobless Rate Job-To-Applicant Ratio
  • Aussie press: Citi says slowing housing market could force further RBA cuts
  • US dollar is continuing to stay firm "we recommend staying core short EUR/USD"
  • Just put down the turkey and no one gets hurt. Trade ideas thread Friday 27 November 2015
  • Its a big day for economic data from Japan - C P I on the agenda

Currencies traded in narrow ranges during the Asian session.

The only news of note during the day was the Japanese data and then confirmation that an extra Japanese budget is being drafted. Along with Chinese industrial profit data, showing their 5th consecutive monthly y/y fall, though some sectors are performing well (in industries favored by China's restructuring policies)

Japan CPI data showed the 'core' coming in at a negative reading (National, October) while the 'core core', at +0.7% y/y (again, National, October) was better looking (for the Bank of Japan's inflation goal). Note, the Bank of Japan is to release its own CPI measure at 0500GMT.

The big disappointing data point out of Japan was on household spending, which slumped again today with another big miss to the downside, its 7th negative result this calendar year so far. Without wage gains this data point is likely to continue to be disappointing. Meanwhile, the jobless rate came in at its lowest for 20 years. Its no secret that a boost to wages would improve household spending, and with the unemployment rate so low it looks like a hike for wages will be forthcoming, rather than further monetary stimulus.

Currencies traded in tight ranges pretty much across the board.

Gold, on the other hand, was more active, above 1073.50 early before sliding under 1068 and towards 1067. there was no obvious catalyst for the move in post-Thanksgiving thin liquidity trading.

Regional equities with Shanghai closed for the lunch break:

  • Shanghai -1.52% ... not helped by the news that Citic Securities and Guosen Securities have received formal notice from China's securities regulator that they are under investigation for suspected violations of securities law
  • Nikkei -0.39%
  • HK -1.23%
  • ASX -0.13%

Still to come:

  • Bank of Japan's own in house CPI