Forex news for Asia trading Thursday 28 May 2015

  • RBNZ reports currency sales for April
  • Goldman Sachs downside targets on EUR/USD
  • Australia - responses to Capex data: earth shattering, crapex, very sobering
  • Australia Q1 Capex: -4.4% (vs. expected -2.2%)
  • Westpac sticks with 'no RBNZ' rate cut call
  • The Beijing News: China brokerages increasing margin requirements for stock trading
  • Morgan Stanley's Gorman on CNBC - Expects Fed rate hike some time this year
  • Where to for EUR/USD now? (And ... this guy shoulda won EuroVision!)
  • Japan retail sales for April: +0.4% m/m (expected +1.1%)
  • Westpac targets 0.70 for NZD/USD - here is why
  • Rule 1: You cannot have enough meetings! G7 meeting - what to watch for
  • Bank of Japan Governor Kuroda: Sees likely 'fairly significant wage increase' in spring
  • More on Fonterra cutting their milk payout forecast
  • Greek econ minister: Talks with EU/IMF lenders converge on key points- still room to cover
  • Fonterra cuts 2014/15 milk payout forecast
  • API: crude oil inventories: +1.3mln bbls
  • ECB may ease short-term debt restrictions for Greece if ....

More yen weakness today, with USD/JPY tripping above 124 to highs around 124.30 and EUR/JPY along to 135.40+.

EUR/USD bounced from below 1.0900, but no higher than 1.0920 before testing back below the figure. Cable followed a similar sort of pattern, above 1.5360 before coming back in a small range.

NZD/USD dropped on the Fonterra announcement of a lower milk payout expectations but bounced harder and stronger to briefly above 0.7270. That was the session high, though, and its back near levels where it was late NY as i update.

AUD/USD ticked higher in the period leading up to the Capex report, taking it above 0.7760 (very briefly). Q1 capex data was very, very bad ... I posted some of the responses I saw (link above): sonering ... horrible ... an "investment strike". The numbers were uniformly bad and the AUD suffered. It has held at 0.7675 as I update, with some buy orders resting there. I'm not sure how much longer the buyers can hold out, but hey, maybe they have a death wish.

One thing to consider on the capex data. Early responses to the survey came in prior to the budget, and you may recall that the budget introduced tax advantages for small business investment. So maybe we can have a cappuccino making machine-led recovery.