Forex news for Asia-Pacific trade on July 5, 2019:
- Australia June Construction PMI 43.0 (prior 40.4)
- China reluctant to buy promised US agriculture until Huawei restrictions lifted
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY reference rate for today at 6.8697 (vs. yesterday at 6.8705)
- Japan Household Spending for May: +4.0% y/y (expected 1.5%)
- Australia June Construction PMI 43.0 (prior 40.4)
- France, Britain and Germany have set up a scheme to continue trading with Iran
- BOJ's Amamiya: We have no plan to issue digital currency in near future
- UK Conservative politicians prepare for snap October election
Markets:
- Gold up $2 to $1418
- Nikkei 225 -0.05%
- AUD leads, NZD lags but overall moves has been minuscule
If you were looking for market moves to come in the aftermath of a US holiday and ahead of non-farm payrolls then you've come to the wrong place. Still, even with the lack of impetus the ranges today have been remarkably small.
It's tough to find a pair that's traded wider than a 10 pip range so far and nothing on my ticker is outside of 3 pips from opening levels.
There has been a tiny bit of USD/JPY buying and some small gains on the yen crosses. USD/JPY sits near yesterday's high of 107.89 but that's holding up as resistance so far. If that and Tuesday's late high of 107.92 give way there could be a bit of momentum because it would put us back into the week-opening gap.
USD/CAD broke down to an 8-month low during US trade. We went back to test that low near 1.3035 and it held before the pair climbed back to unchanged levels. The Canadian jobs data is due alongside non-farm payrolls at 1230 GMT.
The SCMP story on China-US tensions already might get some play later because fits nicely into the dovish/negative narrative that's putting a relentless bid into global bonds.
Thanks for letting me pitch in during Asia-Pacific hours. Eamonn had to get away from the screens for a meeting.
