Forex news for Asia trading Wednesday 6 May 2015
- Iron ore futures to a 6-week high
- NDP wins majority in Alberta election - TV networks
- China HSBC Services PMI for April: 52.9 (prior 52.3)
- Australian Retail Sales for March: +0.3% m/m (vs. +0.4% expected)
- Australia - Housing Industry Association (HIA) New Home Sales for March: +4.4% m/m(prior was +1.1%)
- More from NZ - two banks expecting 2 RBNZ rate cuts this year
- More from Minneapolis Federal Reserve's Kocherlakota: USD appreciated a lot last year
- New Zealand unemployment rate higher than expected - analyst responses
- UK election: "Why neither main UK party is competent"
- British Retail Consortium (BRC) Shop Price Index for April: -1.9% y/y (-1.7% expected
- New Zealand Q1 unemployment rate: 5.8% (expected 5.5%)
- More on Gundlach - Says Fed may not raise rates this year - and he really likes gold
- NZD/USD - ASB cuts milk payout forecast
- The strongest and weakest currencies for May 5th 2015
- Global stock market roundup (May 5, 2015)
- API: crude oil inventories -1.5mln bbls
EUR/USD and EUR/JPY had big days in Asia today, gaining strongly. The USD was weak pretty much across the board, but EUR was the star. There was no fresh news to account for the move.
GBP, CHF, both gained, as did the yen, but to a much smaller extent.
AUD/USD was up around 50 points from its session low, iron ore gained again which did it no harm at all. Retail sales data from Australia today came in under expectations, and saw a sharp 15 or so point dip, but it was from here that the AUD rallied. Its close to the session high as I update,.
NZD lost ground early, and how, dropping below 0.7500 as the Q1 jobs data hit. Unemployment climbed in NZ in Q1, and labour force data was weaker than expected. Analyst responses included a few calling for RBNZ rate hikes (see bullets, above).
The Alberta election result in Canada were announced, which saw the incumbents booted out in what is likely a negative for the CAD.
