Forex news for Asia trading Wednesday 13 May 2015
New Zealand & RBNZ FSR:
- RBNZ's Wheeler: NZ dollar level unsustainable, unjustified
- ASB on RBNZ's FSR - this is not a change in the language of the monetary policy statement
- New Zealand data - Food Prices for April: -0.3% m/m (prior +0.1%)
- Forex technical analysis: NZDUSD swings around after Financial Stability Report
- RBNZ's Wheeler news conference on the FSR: Lending curbs may cut house price inflation
- RBNZ Financial Stability Report - Plans lending curbs on Auckland housing
Australia:
- Australia - Q1 Wage Price Index: +0.5% q/q (expected +0.6%)
- More comments on the Australian dollar, budget, RBA
- CBA on Australian budget - unlikely to shift the RBA easing bias too much
- Australia - "Federal budget 2015: worst cumulative deficits in 60 years"
And:
- Speech by BOJ Board Member Sato - link to text
- Currency manipulation - the big sticking point on trade
- Bloomberg - Economists forecast one more Chinese interest-rate cut this year
- EUR/USD technical analysis: Range Breakout Needed
- US retail sales data due Wednesday morning - preview
- Japan - BoP Current Account Balance for March: ¥ 2795.3B (vs. expected ¥ 2061.3B)
- M6.9 earthquake hits off main Japan island of Honshu
- The strongest and weakest currencies for May 12, 2015
- European and US stocks end lower for the day
- API: crude oil inventories fall 2 mln barrels
Apart from the Financial Stability Report out of New Zealand and its aftermath, and a bit of follow through from Australia on last night's budget, news flow in Asia was very light indeed.
The USD net lost a little ground; EUR, GBP and CHF all edged a few points higher against the USD. USD/JPY, on the other hand, was barely changed, off just a little.
The main FX action, though, was in the NZD. With the release of the FSR (bullet 6, above) we saw an initial spike dwon in the NZD before a very rapid recovery and then a grind higher. Follow-up words from RBNZ Governor Wheeler were bearish on the currency, but lacking in specifics on monetary policy going forward. The NZD/USd managed a move above 0.7420 before drifting down a few points. Follow-up comments from Wheeler (in front of a parliamentary committee) were again bearish for the currency and it dipped to 0.760 before recovering 35+ points as I write.
AUD/USD followed a similar pattern to NZD trading. it found a high above 0.8000 but didn't sustain there, doming back below 0.7970 and then stabilizing a few points higher (as of writing).
Oil shot higher on the API data at 4.30pm ET (it should an inventory draw) but has been sideways for much of the Asian session since. Gold is little changed in a small range for the day.
