The forex trading headlines for Asia trading today, Wednesday May 15

  • Not much in the way of economic data points or news today.
  • Japanese Tertiary Industry Index for March -1.3% (vs. -0.7% expected. The prior was revised up from 1.1% to 1.2%)
  • Reports crossed the newswires of the China People’s Daily reporting Premier Li Keqiang saying he sees limited room for more stimulus, and that too much government spending may ‘create new risks’
  • Australian Q1 Wage Cost Index 0.7% q/q (vs. expected 0.8%)
  • Australian Q1 Wage Cost Index 3.2% y/y (vs. expected at 3.3%)
  • Australia New Motor Vehicle Sales for April -1.6% m/m (vs. -0.5% m/m prior)
  • Australia New Motor Vehicle Sales for April 3.3% y/y (vs. +4.5% y/y prior)
  • The IMF issued its annual economic assessment of New Zealand, noting an overpriced housing market and the risks it creates
  • JGB yields continued to climb, and the Nikkei225 went above 15,000, its first move above 15,000 since 2008

Not a huge amount of movement in the currencies today.

EUR/USD made new lows late in the New York day, getting briefly below 1.2920. Over the Asian session it retraced to 1.2940 and then back down to 20. GBP/USD traced out a similar sort of pattern, up toward 1.5240 before coming back down around 1.5215/20. There was little in the way of news of relevance crossing the wires.

USD/JPY, too, had a quiet one after a late new York spike to 102.40, settling back but with plenty of volume going through. 102.05- 102.35 confining it.

The release of the IMF’s annual report on New Zealand had little impact on the kiwi. there is rarely anything new in these reports, of course, and NZD/USD traded in a tight range today.

AUD/USD retraced a small part of its overnight downmove, getting above 0.9910. there were two items of economic data released today, both coming in slightly weaker. While the AUD sold off a little after the releases its difficult to pin the moves on the data, the day’s releases are not usually much of a market focus. Selling was from US macro-type names, which is hardly surprising given the loudly trumpeted hate for the AUD coming out of that sector of late.