Forex news for Asia trading Thursday 23 July 2015

New Zealand:

  • NZ finmin English: Drop in NZD will support all New Zealand exporters
  • More RBNZ reactions - ASB, WPAC, JPM, ANZ
  • ANZ on the RBNZ ... not as dovish as some expected
  • Westpac on the RBNZ decision & targets for NZD/USD & AUD/NZD
  • RBNZ cuts rates by 25 basis points

Australia

  • More on the NAB's Quarterly Business Survey for the June Quarter 2015
  • NAB Australian business confidence for Q2: 4% (prior flat at 0% change)
  • NAB on the RBA ... policy will remain on hold this year and into 2016

China

  • Bridgewater's Dalio: Our views about China have changed ... no safe places to invest
  • China - stock-market correction will drag down economic growth in H2
  • Shanghai Securities News: China should not withdraw stock market support measures yet

And ...

  • EUR/USD is going to 1, but not under 0.9, then to 1.20-1.25
  • Greek government secures enough votes to pass second package of reforms for bailout deal
  • Morgan Stanley says Gold could drop to $800 under this scenario
  • Japan June Trade Balance: Y -69.0bn (vs. Y +45.8bn expected)
  • Trade ideas thread for Thursday 23 July 2015

Early eyes swung to New Zealand today and the RBNZ announcement. Wheeler didn't disappoint, cutting the OCR by 25 basis points, as everyone expected (there was one straggler at 50 bp ... soon dispatched to the boundary).

NZD/USD immediately jumped, nearly 100 points, as widespread expectations had translated into a market well short the currency. The retracement was limited to 0.6600, after a brief interlude around 0.6625/30, and the bounce from the figure has taken us back to around 15 points or so below the earlier high.

AUD/USD had a wiggle on the NZ announcement and then lost a bit of ground to get back to overnight lows. Improving business confidence data again today gave it a bit of a boost and its net a fraction higher on the session as I update.

EUR had a reasonably steady gain through the session. The Greek parliament voted in favour of the next step in the bailout process. EUR/USD is up above 1.0950 as I update, and EUR/JPY just under session highs around 135.75.

CHF and GBP strengthened a little against the USD.

USD/JPY had a small range only, just above 124.10 at one stage and now back under the figure.

Oil was more or less flat, a slight gain. Gold added a few dollars from closing NY levels to be back approaching 1100 (albeit from below)