Forex news for Asia trading Wednesday 15 July 2015

Japan

  • BOJ meeting - announces NO CHANGE

China data today ... all data points beat expectations. Every single one.

  • China stock market looking at the unbelievably good data ... and, well, not believing
  • Comments on China data from National Statistics Bureau spokesman Sheng
  • AUD/USD traded higher before the China data
  • China: Industrial production +6.8% y/y (+6.0% expected) & Retail sales +10.6% y/y (+10.2% expected)
  • China Q2 GDP: 7.0% y/y (vs. +6.8% expected) economic data result

Comments from Federal Reserve's George:

  • More from Fed's George: Thinks its time for the Fed to raise rates
  • Fed's George: Says economy 'back on track' in Q2 after soft Q1

Australia data:

  • Australia - June New Vehicle Sales: +3.8% m/m (prior -1.3%)
  • Westpac Consumer Confidence Index for July: -3.2% m/m (prior -6.9%)

Oil

  • Goldman Sachs - Sees large increases in Iran oil output from 2017
  • API crude oil inventories: fall of 7.3 mln barrels

Greece

  • More from Greek PM Tsipras: Ratifying the deal means Greece won't have debt problem
  • IMF on Greece crossing the wires

And ...

  • EUR/USD and GBP/USD technical analysis from RBS ... bullish on both
  • Trade ideas thread for Wednesday 15 July 2015

The market spent most of the day waiting for the Chinese data today, which included Q2 GDP, and June industrial production & retail sales.

AUD/USD dipped early in the day, not by much, and recovered easily before trading higher into the China data release. The data came out showing a beat on expectations for every single data point. Comments from the NBS (see bullets above for the data and comments) conveyed a very bullish tone, but alas the market wasn't believing it. China stocks traded lower.

The AUD popped into the sell zone ahead of 0.7500 and fell back, losing around 30 or so points from its high before it has settled again.

NZD/USD showed similar trading behaviour to the Oz, but the extent of the moves were much smaller. AUD/NZD buyers showed their hand in the wake of the China data.

It wasn't all China today, though. We had a speech from the Fed's Esther George, and the announcement from the Bank of Japan. George's comments, and the results from the BOJ had little market-moving impact. There was nothing to surprise us from either George or the BOJ.

USD/JPY does finish as I update near session highs after a very small range. EUR/JPY is barely changed on the day.

Speaking of EUR ... not much activity in EUR/USD at all. Cable was slightly better bid through the session, edging up above 1.5650 by a few tics before settling just under. Little action in the CHF either.

Oil gained on the release of the API inventory data (a much bigger draw than expected) at he end of the US day and has maintained that gain through the session.

Gold edged a little higher, gave it back and is more or less unchanged.

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