Forex news for Asia-Pacific trading on December 5, 2017:
- RBA holds interest rates at 1.50%, as expected
- Full text of the December RBA cash rate decision
- Australia October retail sales +0.5% vs +0.3% expected
- Australia Q3 current account balance -A$9.1B vs -A$8.7B expected
- RBNZ's Spencer: RBNZ becoming more flexible in inflation targeting
- Caixin China services PMI 51.9 vs 51.2 prior
- PBOC sets yuan midpoint at 6.6113 vs 6.6166 close yesterday
- Japan Nikkei November PMI services 51.1 vs 53.4 prior
- BRC Nov Uk retail sales estimate +0.6% y/y vs -1.0% prior
- New Zealand ANZ November commodity price index -0.9% vs -0.3% prior
- AiG performance of services index 51.7 vs 51.4 prior
- November CBA Australia PMI services 54.0 vs 53.0 prior
- New Zealand Q3 volume of all building 2.7% vs +2.0% expected
- BOJ Gov Kuroda: No discussion with Abe on next BOJ Governor
Markets:
- Nikkei -0.28% to 22,644
- Gold down $1 to $1275
- AUD leads, JPY lags
It was all about the Australian dollar as it climbed a half-cent to the best levels since November 12. The initial climb came on an upbeat October retail sales report. There were some caveats (food was a main driver) but it gave AUD traders a reason to lean towards a hawkish RBA.
With the decision from Lowe, there wasn't a screaming 'buy' signal but it was more upbeat on jobs and omitted a reference to low inflation for some time. That was enough to keep the momentum going higher and UAD/USD is near the session high of 0.7653.
The New Zealand dollar piggybacked on the move in a climbed up to 0.6900 from 0.6850. So far, Friday's high of 0.6911 is capping the rise. That will be the level to watch over the next few hours.
Elsewhere, USD/JPY has held its ground after a disappointing slide in US trading. The pair is trading up 10 points on the session at 112.52.
EUR/USD has flattened out near 1.1870 and cable is similar at 1.3475 as disappointment about today's Brexit development is tempered by the belief that it's a temporary setback in an uptrend.
USD/CAD has sat right above yesterday's European low of 1.2655 for the entirety of Asia-Pacific trading.
Looking ahead, there's a full slate of Eurozone PMIs. I'll be back for the North American session.
