Forex news for Asia trading for Friday 30 April 2021
- EUR/USD looks set to remain in the upper half of its 1.17-1.22 range
- Japan's government approves $4.6bn from reserve fund to support business
- China says US increasing military activity directed at it
- More on the official China PMIs earlier (manufacturing both expanded but more slowly)
- China - Caixin/Markit Manufacturing PMI for April: 51.9 (vs. expected 50.9)
- Australia PPI for Q1 2021
- Australia Private Sector Credit for March 2021: 1.0% y/y
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY central rate at 6.4672 (vs. yesterday at 6.4715)
- China official PMIs for April: Manufacturing 51.1 (vs. expected 51.8) & Non-manufacturing 54.9 (expected 56.1)
- The first delivery of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine has arrived in Japan
- Japan - Jibun Bank/Markit Manufacturing PMI (final) for April: 53.6
- Two bank analysts, two different views on the NZD
- Japan Industrial Production for March (preliminary): +2.2% m/m (expected -2.0%)
- CAD continues to gain (want to know why - check this out in the post)
- Japan - Tokyo area headline CPI for April -0.6% y/y (vs. expected -0.2%)
- Japan Jobless (Unemployment) rate for March: 2.6% (expected 2.9%)
- Oil - US, UK, China demand all improving
- UK data - Lloyds Business Barometer for April jumps to 29 (from prior of 15)
- Canadian province of Alberta has further tightened COVID-19 restrictions
- BioNTech says expects the (Pfizer) shot to be effective against India coronavirus mutuant
- Goldman Sachs on the upside and downside risks for China
- Iran welcomed a "change of tone" from Saudi Arabia - talks of cooperation
- France has detected its first case of the India coronavirus mutant
- Chinese regulators are moving to slow growth in the big tech payment business'
- New Zealand - ANZ Consumer Confidence Index for April: +4.2% m/m (prior -2.0%)
- Swiss National bank to test a transfer of central bank digital currency funds
- ICYMI - The "double mutant" coronavirus strain that was found in India has been detected in China
- Trade ideas thread - Friday 30 April 2021
The USD is a touch weaker on the session, this despite a small tick up in US yields. USD/JPY topped out above 109 during the Asian morning. Its a mixed bag across major FX pairs for the session, with little change for EUR, AUD, NZD and CAD against the dollar while cable is just a touch to the stronger. Small ranges prevailed.
The news flow was relatively quiet, the coronavirus catastrophe continues to unfold in India with surging cases, hospitalisations (when beds and facilities can be found) and deaths. Pledges of support and the shipping of supplies continues from countries around the globe but it'll be still some time until the situation in the country is brought under anything like control. A terrible tragedy.
There was dreadful news out of Israel with 38 people believed to have died in this:
There was plenty of data out from the timezone today, the most focus was on China's PMIs. The official survey PMIs for manufacturing and non-manufacturing (and thus composite) all fell below expectations and below last month. As a counterpoint the private survey (Caixin/Markit) manufacturing PMI rose. Do note the official and private surveys are different surveys (see bullets above). Market impact was small only.
As a heads up for next week - Japanese and Chinese markets are closed from May 1 to May 5 for holidays.
Regional equities:
Japan's Nikkei %, Topix %
China's Shanghai Composite %
Hong Kong's Hang Seng %
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 %
Bitcoin was relatively subdued:
