Forex news for Asia trading Tuesday 16 June 2015

  • WSJ: "Europe Asks if Greece Could Default Without Exiting Euro"
  • BOJ's Kuroda still at it: Never said I don't want yen to weaken on nominal basis
  • BOJ Governor Kuroda ... Last week I didn't mean to predict future nominal FX rate
  • More from BOJ's Kuroda - what else he said
  • RBA Minutes: Fall in AUD both likely and necessary
  • Australia data - new vehicle sales for May -1.3% m/m
  • More Japan comments - Iwata, Aso
  • BOJ Governor Kuroda says Japan's economy has continued to recover moderately
  • Goldman Sachs on the FOMC - not an independent risk event - and not so much USD concern
  • Federal Reserve FOMC preview from BoA /Merrill Lynch - the checklist to watch
  • Australia - ANZ Roy Morgan weekly Consumer Sentiment: 114.5 (prior was 112.1)
  • Kathimerini: Greek PM "Tsipras refuses to give ground in halted talks"
  • Greek finmin Varoufakis: Won't present new reform proposals on Thursday
  • Nikkei on the BOJ: "Policy board divisions grow over monetary easing"

Yen the mover today!

USD/JPY (and along with it the yen crosses) all jumped today on the back of Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Kuroda in parliament clarifying that he Last week I didn't mean to predict future nominal FX rate and I Never said I don't want yen to weaken on nominal basis .

Reaction was swift, with USD/JPY from around 123.35 immediately to a high around 123.80. It came back around half-way and chopped 123.55/65 before settling (as I update) around 123.55.

Cable put on a few points to get back towards the late NY high, while EUR and CHF both lost a few points against the USD.

AUD was choppy leading up to, and in the wake of, the RBA MInutes, but net its not much changed on the session after a few sharp spikes both ways. NZD/USD, too, traded a reasonable range both higher and lower but is barely changed on the session as I update also.

Oil moved just over half a dollar higher, new oil-related news though seemed absent (at least from me ... maybe there is something out there?), while gold was more or less flat.

Asian equities, especially China, lost ground. As I update:

Shenzhen Composite down more than 3.5%

Shanghai Composite down nearly 2.5%

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index off around 0.5%

While the Nikkei was down just over half a percent too.

Still to come!

  • Heads up for NZ dollar traders - dairy auction results coming up