Forex news for Asia trading Tuesday 9 May 2017

I'm gonna begin the wrap of the session a little different, with a "here's what's still to come". I won't make a habit of this but in a few hours time is the Australian federal government budget for next year:

OK, and so to today's Asia session.

USD/JPY was an early mover, extending its gains to fresh highs (compared with the overnight move), up above 113.30. There was little in the way of fresh news, apart from an appearance in the Diet from BOJ Governor Kuroda, with comments indicating 'powerful easing' is still appropriate in his view. In addition to Kuroda we got wages data (March); a huge miss on expectations (really, it was a big miss both in nominal and real terms) and coming in well below the prior.

The BOJ and Japanese government are hoping for wages to improve to drive consumption to drive a move towards the inflation target.

Just. Not. Happening.

A little later we got comments from ratings agencies Moody's saying, amongst other things:

  • The Bank of Japan is emerging as main source of affordable funding for government

I wonder what their first clue was?

USD/JPY topped just above 113.30 and is tracking sideways as I update around 113.23-odd. Overall a tight range for the session for it and yen crosses overall.

EUR, CHF, GBP, NZD, CAD - all are little changed against the USD.

The Australian dollar slid further; it had sat very gently bid in the Australian morning, but a big miss for March retail sales data (released along with retails sales ex-inflation for Q1, which also showed a decline from the previous quarter) saw a leg down, below the overnight lows and extending the AUD/USD lower trend. The move lower moved a little further soon after and it is barely off its session low as I update.

Gold is up small on the session so far, oil a few points to the worse.

Regional equities:

  • Nikkei -0.22%
  • Shanghai -0.03%
  • HK +0.33%
  • ASX -0.33%

Still to come: Later this week is the Reserve Bank of New Zealand monetary policy meeting:

And:

More: