The US dollar continued to decline in Asia morning trade, with major FX higher against the dollar across the board. USD/JPY was notable, dropping to its lowest since the middle of June to back under 140.00. EUR, AUD, CAD, CHF, GBP and NZD all rose.

Data from Japan showed wholesale inflation slowed for the 6th straight month. Producer prices (-0.2%) and import prices (-1.2%) declined in June. The drops were mostly due to lower commodity prices. These will likely feed through to an easing of consumer prices in the months ahead. The Bank of Japan has been telling us, over and over, it expects cost-push pressures to ease in this way.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand Monetary Policy Review and official cash rate (OCR) announcement followed. The Bank left its OCR at 5.5%, as was basically unanimously expected. While the rate hike cycle in NZ is over the Bank said it’d be holding the cash rate “at a restrictive level for the foreseeable future, to ensure that consumer price inflation returns to the 1 to 3% annual target range, while supporting maximum sustainable employment”. NZD/USD had a wobble a touch lower on the announcement but as I post is making new highs for the session.

The People’s Bank of China once again set the onshore yuan stronger than expected at the daily reference rate fixing. An earlier report in China’s Securities Journal said its anticipating increased fiscal stimulus to help support the economy.

Asian equity markets:

  • Japan’s Nikkei 225 -0.7%

  • China’s Shanghai Composite -0.1%

  • Hong Kong’s Hang Seng +1.2%

  • South Korea’s KOSPI 0.0%

  • Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 +0.4%

NZD higher after the RBNZ:

rbnz nzd higher wrap chart 12 July 2023