The forex trading headlines for Asia trading today: Monday August 12, 2013
Weekend:
- Swiss National Bank says the cap on the Swiss franc “is the top priority”
- The Bundesbank expects Greece will need more aid and will get it after the election (more here)
- EU banks need to unload EUR 3.2 bln in assets to comply with Basel III
- China to let banks sell off loans in prelude to possible bailout
- Fonterra pulls ‘DCD’ milk powder in Sri Lanka, disputes test
- Bird flu case confirmed in China
Monday:
From Japan:
- GDP (seasonally adjusted) for Q2, preliminary: 0.6% q/q (expected 0.9%,prior 0.9% (revised from 1.0%))
- GDP Annualized (seasonally adjusted) for Q2, preliminary: 2.6 % y/y (expected 3.6%, prior 3.8% (revised from 4.1%))
- GDP Nominal (seasonally adjusted) for Q2, preliminary: 0.7% q/q ( expected 1.0%, prior 0.6%)
- GDP Deflator for Q2, preliminary: -0.3% y/y (expected -0.7%, prior -1.1%)
- Domestic CGPI for July: 0.5% m/m ( expected 0.2%, prior 0.1%)
- Domestic CGPI for July: 2.2% y/y (expected 1.9%, prior 1.2%)
- New Zealand July house price index falls 0.5% m/m
- New Zealand Food Price Index for July: 0.5% m/m (vs. prior at 2.1%)
- China Securities Journal reports that some Chinese banks have raised time-deposit rates
- Fitch: Recent Rate Cut Unlikely to Improve Australian Mortgage Performance
- Agricultural Bank of China makes a huge stimulus loan to Shanghai, equivalent to 12.5% of Shanghai’s GDP last year
- Fonterra Scare Affected All New Zealand’s Exports, PM John Key Says
- Japan’s economy minister Amari had many commnets reported after the GDP data release – here and here
- Australian Credit Card Balances for June $A49.9bn (prior was $A49.6bn)
- Australian Credit Card Purchases for June $A20.3bn (prior was $A22.6bn)
- Japan PM adviser Etsuro Honda says Q2 GDP shows conditions not appropriate for a sales tax hike. and more here
- Japan PM Abe: Economy improving steadily due to government’s economic policies since last year
- China State Council posts statement on small companies
EUR/USD and GBP/USD were movers early in New Zealand as sell stops were triggered in the thin market. EUR/USD down below 1.3315 before bouncing back 25 points and cable down below 1.5490 before it, too, bounced. An overall quiet session for both, though, drifting lower again as the session progressed.
USD/JPY had a quiet opening through until the GDP data release (and other data, though GDP was the focus – see bullets, above), which saw it drop to session lows below 95.95 before recovering, too. It settled in a band around 96.10 until ticking higher on news Japanese PM Abe was to address media late in the Tokyo morning, taking out some trading short stop losses above 96.25. It moved above 96.40 then to 96.60/65 as Abe spoke (he didn’t add anything to what we already know).
AUD/USD had a reasonably range-bound session, but was choppy within it, straddling 0.9190 for much of the Asian morning. Kiwi, too, choppy and range-bound.
Gold performed well on the opening, trading around $16 higher.
