Forex news for Asia trading Tuesday 10 March 2015

  • Fonterra - NZ police say threat made to contaminate infant milk formula
  • NZD sold heavily on Fonterra news - Fonterra trading halt
  • EUR meltdown far from over ... new forecast revised lower
  • China's higher CPI is temporary, PBOC rate cut coming next month - analyst
  • Is this the future of FX currency charts?
  • PBOC deputy Governor Yi Gang: Deflation risk in Japan, Europe, higher than in China
  • China February CPI: +1.4% y/y (+1.0% expected)
  • Tokyo currency strategist says USD/JPY resistance 121.85/122.00
  • China Premier Li: Restructuring is stabilising economic growth
  • Australia - National Australia Bank business confidence: 0 (vs. prior 3)
  • More from Fed's Fisher: Expects wage pressures to build as unemployment falls
  • UK - British Retail Consortium February retail like-for-like sales: +0.2%
  • Japan - M2 money stock for February: +3.5% y/y (expected +3.5%)
  • China People's Daily: PBOC adviser says no risk of hard landing
  • Fed's Fisher repeats its better to raise rates early and gradually
  • EUR/USD support? Not "until the psychologically important $1.00 level is approached'
  • Japan economy minister Amari: Japan remains on solid recovery track
  • CBA says AUD heading to 0.73 in 1st half of 2015
  • Australia - ANZ Roy Morgan weekly Consumer Sentiment: 110.3 (vs. prior 112.5)
  • China Securities Journal: PBOC will increase liquidity if M2 slows sharply
  • Japan press - latest survey on consumer confidence shows signs of an improving economy
  • New Zealand card spending - Retail +1.0% m/m (vs. +0.4% expected)

All USD, all the time ...

OK, not quite.

The USD gained again in Asia today, pretty much across the board. Federal Reserve Dallas president Fisher was on the wires early with typical (and repeated) 'rate hike soon' talk (see bullets, above for details). He didn't do the USD any harm with his comments and much commentary on the day linked him with the dollar strength.

EUR/USD held up well for a while, as other currencies crumbled (I am using the term relatively, for Asia the moves were notable, but its been quiet here of late) but soon succumbed, falling to a fresh 12-year low and well under 1.08.

USD/JPY marched higher, only stopping ahead of 122 (as of writing, at least).

USD/CHF jumped above 0.99, gold hit briefly under 1160 and cable dipped under 1.5070.

AUD was particularly heavy, especially in the earlier part of the session - poor business confidence data once again prompting talk of central bank action and further woe and misery. NZD. too, took a bigger sized hit - extortion threats aimed at New Zealand dairy producers saw the currency dive under 0.7300 before stabilising.

Oil managed to eke out a small gain, though it too is stumbling as I update.

We had inflation data out of China today, which showed a jump ... this is thought to be likely temporary over the new year period.