ForexLive Asia FX news wrap: AUD surges on big GDP beat

Forex news for Asia trading Wednesday 1 June 2016

China's 2 manufacturing PMIs today - from bad to worse?
Australian Q1 GDP - more on the HUGE beat
Nikkei Japan (final) Manufacturing PMI for May: 47.7 (preliminary was 47.6)
China Caixin manufacturing PMI for May: 49.2 (expected 49.2)
Australia - Q1 GDP: +1.1 % q/q (expected +0.8%)
Here comes a hike! Saudi Arabia likely to hike Asia crude prices in July
PBOC sets yuan reference rate for today at 6.5889 (vs. yesterday at 6.5790)
China - official PMI for May (Manufacturing): 50.1 (expected 50.0)
China official non manufacturing PMI 53.1 (prior 53.5) - out early
Chinese yuan daily setting coming up soon - how is the basket looking?
New Zealand QV House Prices +12.4% y/y for May (previous +12.0%)
Australia - RPData / Core Logic house prices for May: +1.6% m/m (prior +1.7%)
Japan Q1 Capital Spending: +4.2% y/y (expected +2.4%)
China Securities Journal says GDP growth to be about 6.7% this year
Australia - AIG Manufacturing PMI for May: 51.0 (prior 53.4)
AUD and NZD orderboards
BRC Shop Price Index for May: -1.8% y/y (prior -1.7%)
Man with head stuck down toilet gets charged with insider trading
New Zealand - Terms of Trade for Q1: +4.4% q/q (expected +1.0%)
More on China's 'flash crash' yesterday. Fat finger, illiquidity, hedge? The plot thickens
Earthquake shakes Nicaraguan capital of Managua
Australian Q1 GDP due today - expectations revised much higher
Its the Hump Day trade ideas thread - Wednesday 1 June 2016
"Man gets head stuck in washing machine" (must be an FX trader)

New month, same old growth story for the Australian economy. Q1 GDP data came in at a big beat, surging well beyond consensus expectations and sending the currency toward 0.7300.

Q1 GDP came in at +1.1% q/q, a huge beat of the 0.8% consensus median expectation.
Export performance made an enormous contribution, from 0% in Q4 2015 to 1% this time around.
More details in the bullets, above. Was the data perfect? Nope. But the death of the Aussie economy has been greatly exaggerated.

AUD/USD was marked higher, but fell short of 0.7300, held in check by sellers clustered there. NZD/USD had a good day also, with a steadier sort of gain, though it has pulled back a little after topping 0.6800 twice during the session. NZ terms of trade data surprised to the topside.

Elsewhere in the currencies, USD/JPY is not much changed on the session, though it lost some ground early before coming back into its late US range. As I update its gradually drifting down again. EUR and CHF both lost a few points against the USD, but are net little changed. Cable dipped early in Tokyo but has come back into mid-range as I update.

On the data front, we had a good beat for Q1 capex in Japan, but very poor misses for company profits and sales. The Japanese PMI continues to paint a weak picture, though it was weighed upon by the aftermath of April earthquakes according to Markit.

We had Chinese PMIs today also (official manufacturing and nonmanufacturing along with private manufacturing) and these either showed some stability (the official manufacturing PMI) or more further contraction (the Caixin/Markit manufacturing). The CNY was set at another 5-year low against the USD, for the third consecutive day.

Regional equities: