The forex trading headlines for Asia trading today, Thursday May 16
- Japan Q1 preliminary GDP beat estimates, at 0.9% q/q (vs. +0.7% expected)
- Japan Q1 preliminary GDP 3.5% y/y (vs. +2.7% expected)
- Another positive for Japan Buying Foreign Bonds Y 186.4B (vs. prior week was +Y301.2B)
- Japan Buying Foreign Stocks Y 19.2B (prior week was +Y28.0B)
- Foreign Buying Japan Bonds Y -413.5B (prior week was +Y267.0B)
- Foreign Buying Japan Stocks Y 878.8B (prior week was -Y26.2B)
- Japan Q1 preliminary GDP deflator -1.2% y/y (vs. -0.9 expected)
- China April Actual Foreign Direct Investment came in at its slowest for 3 months at +0.4% y/y (vs. +6.2% expected)
- New Zealand April manufacturing PMI 54.5 (vs. 53.4 prior)
- New Zealand budget deficit $NZ6.3bn in 2012/13 and of $NZ 2bn in 13/14
- Moody’s: Says New Zealand’s ‘budget trajectory’ is supportive of AAA rating
- Fitch was supportive of New Zealand’s AA rating also, S&P too say their ratings unaffected
- New Zealand government and RBNZ sign Memorandum of Understanding to increase financial system stability
Currency movements were limited today. EUR/USD ticked a little higher to 1.2890 resistance and came back 20 points, GBP/USD was a little more active, trading toward 1.5250 before slipping below 1.5220 briefly.
NZD/USD had a relatively active session, higher on the announcement of tomorrow’s $NZ120m bond sale but not following through at all, drifting back below 0.8250, where it straddled for the rest of the session, the budget announcements having zero impact.
AUD/USD traded a little higher too, running toward 0.9915/20 resistance. It drifted lower to 0.9895/00 and then found some further selling over the Sydney lunch, taking it down to 0.9880/85.
USD/JPY found resistance around 102.30 in Tokyo and lost a little ground after the release of the GDP and capital flow numbers. It was slow, though, support kicked back in around 102, keeping the range tight on the session.
