- The AIG/PWC Manufacturing Index for Australia registered an improvement on last month at 45.2 (44.1 was the prior) but is still in contractionary territory;
- South Korean CPI came in at +2.1% (Y), well below the Central Bank of Korea’s 3% upper limit;
- South Korean HSBC Manufacturing PMI came in at 47.37 (45.71 previously);
- South Korean Trade Balance registered +3.8B (market expectations were 3.42B vs. 3.1B prior);
- Australian Import Price Index came in at minus 2.4%, while the Export Price Index showed minus 6.4%;
- The official Chinese Manufacturing October PMI result clocked an expansionary 50.2 compared with 49.8 in Sept.;
- The closely following HSBC/Markit Chinese Manufacturing Oct. PMI improved too, to 49.5 (vs. 49.1 Sept.);
- The Taiwan PMI for October came in at 47.8 (September 45.6);
- The PBOC added more liquidity, with 173 billion yuan of reverse bond repurchase agreements;
- Indian PMI for October came in at an expansionary 52.9 (September 52.80).
The big currency mover today was a weakening Yen, most notably USD/JPY and EUR/JPY, as the market took some heart from the improving (though still not out of the woods) Asian Manufacturing PMI figures to add to Euro positions. USD/JPY strengthened with end of month flows, and stops getting hunted above 80 during the Tokyo lunch session.
