Forex news for Asia trading Friday 7 May 2021
- CNH - offshore yuan at its strongest since late February
- China has approved ETFs based on HK TECH Index
- China Caixin/Markit April PMIs: Services 56.3 (prior 54.3) Composite 54.7 (prior 53.1)
- US President Biden will speak on the US NFP report on Friday 7 May 2021
- RBA Statement on Monetary policy - repeats no rate hike until 2024 at earliest
- US Nonfarm Payroll (NFP) preview from Goldman Sachs - GS are looking for a blowout report
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY central rate at 6.4678
- Japan PM Suga news conference 1000 GMT - further coronavirus restrictions expected
- Japan - Jibun Bank/Markit PMIs (final) for April: Services 49.5 (prior 48.3) and Composite 51.0 (49.9)
- Coronavirus- Japan to extend state of emergency and add further prefectures
- Futures - The CME has lowered margins for gold, silver, platinum
- Japan wages data for March: Labor cash earnings: 0.2% y/y (vs. expected -0.2%)
- New Zealand dollar seen near term stronger
- US officials say that US Sec State Blinken will keep the pressure up on China
- Coronavirus - Australia - NSW premier on potential lockdown - "Not at this stage"
- Australia Services PMI for April: 61.0 (prior 58.7)
- Gold downgraded to neutral from buy (3 - 6 month horizon)
- Australia's trade minister guesses that international borders will open mid-2022 at the earliest
- ICYMI - Australian government backs down from its 5 year jail threat for arrivals from India
- ICYMI - Goldman Sachs offers bitcoin derivatives to investors
- Trade ideas thread - Friday 7 May 2021
- UK PM Johnson will confirm Government coronavirus guidance is changing May 17 (this is a nothingburger story)
- The Dow industrial average closes at another record high
- Fed says asset price may be vulnerable if risk appetite falls
It was a sideways sort of session for major FX here in Asia ahead of Friday's Nonfarm Payroll report due for the US (at 1230GMT, see bullets above for previews).
Late in the US afternoon/early Asia the US Federal Reserve released its latest Financial Stability Report (a twice yearly report) which painted an optimistic picture but did not some risks, namely COVID-19 (if efforts to stem the spread should falter) and also elevated asset prices:
Should risk appetite decline from elevated levels, a range of asset prices could be vulnerable to large and sudden declines, which can lead to broader stress to the financial system
There was little response in 'risk' markets.
In COVID-19 news, Japan looks set to expand restrictions, while Australian city of Sydney recorded no further new local transmission with a donut day.
On the central bank front the Reserve Bank of Australia published its latest SoMP with upgrades for forecasts but sticking to the 2024 date as the earliest for any rate hike. The Bank has been repeating this date, as recently as Thursday this week in a speech from Dep Gov Debelle so it comes as no surprise (see bullets above).
As referred to above, FX ranges weren't much to speak of, minor movement only.
Regional equities:
Japan's Nikkei +0.3%, Topix +0.4%
China's Shanghai Composite +0.21%
Hong Kong's Hang Seng +0.50%
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 +0.29%
Chinese yuan higher again:
