Forex news for Asia trading Friday 29 May 2015

  • New Zealand data - Money supply for April M3: +7.7% y/y (prior was +8.3%)
  • Japan economy minister Amari: Difficult for countries to conduct FX intervention
  • PBOC official Zeng Hui: PBOC to let market play bigger role in FX market
  • China Vice-Finance Minister Shi: Import tax cut aims to aid domestic consumption
  • China stocks - chart update
  • Bloomberg: OPEC won't export higher oil output as domestic needs grow: BMI
  • Japan volcano eruption - no injuries reported, evacuation ordered
  • Australia data - Private Sector Credit for April: +0.3% m/m (expected +0.5%)
  • Japan chief cabinet secretary Suga: Economy heading steadily to virtuous cycle
  • Australian data - HIA New Home Sales for April: +0.6 (prior +4.4%)
  • NZ data - ANZ Business Confidence 15.7 (prior 30.2) & Activity Outlook 32.6 (prior 41.3)
  • China's government plans to make it easier for individuals & companies to invest overseas
  • Japan - April Industrial Production (preliminary): +1.0% m/m (vs. +1.0% expected)
  • Japan economy minister Amari: Yen has not reached excessively weak levels
  • Japan April data - Overall Household Spending, Jobless Rate & Job-To-Applicant Ratio
  • Japan - National Tokyo CPI for April: +0.6% y/y (expected +0.6%)
  • UK data - GfK consumer confidence for May comes in at 1 (4 expected)
  • Oil - BoA / Merrill Lynch say unilateral Saudi oil production cuts unlikely
  • New Zealand - April Building Consents (Permits): -1.7% m/m (vs prior of +11%)
  • Preview of the US Q1 GDP due Friday (USD bears - this'll put a smile on your dial)
  • Australia press: Capital investment: Economic outlook slips 'from bleak to recessionary'
  • The strongest and weakest for May 28, 2015

It was a wild ride for Chinese shares again today, with the Shanghai Composite down 10% from its year's high at one stage. I posted on Wednesday on Chinese brokers raising deposit requirements (you're welcome), and again on Thursday (ditto) so some sort of fall shouldn't have come as a surprise; and wow ... what a fall!

Having said this, the heightened volatility in China continued to play out as stocks staged a big rally from the session lows to be near opening levels as I update.

(As an aside, The Financial Times reported that "China equity funds took in more than $4bn from overseas over the past week ... more than double the previous high set in the second quarter of 2008" ... with FastFT adding the pithy headline: Great timing, chaps)

On the FX front, EUR/USD ground out a small gain in the early going, as high as around 1.0974 before drifting back and stabilizing around 1.0950/60. The CHG and GBP were both a little stronger against the greenback also, but moves were small.

USD/JPY drifted slightly lower over the session. it was Japanese CPI day (along with household spending - which came in weak - and industrial production - which showed a marginal improvement from last month ... (see bullets, above). Inflation data was not too discouraging ... I'm not going as far to say it was actively encouraging, but it at least moved in the right direction for the BOJ and administration.

NZD/USD fell on poor business confidence data (again, see bullets, above), though it didn't pierce overnight lows.

AUD/USD ground out a gain to above 0.7670 before drifting back to mid range as I update 9there wasn't much movement in it, a tight range).

Oil continued its US timezone rally, ticking higher again. Gold was up a few dollars, but not much in it.