Forex news for Asia trading for Monday 12 April 2021
- Recapping the Japanese data earlier - "wholesale prices rise for first time in 13 months"
- Monetary Authority of Singapore policy meeting April 14 - preview
- Australian state leader says vaccination delays mean Australia will be left behind
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY mid-point today at 6.5578 vs. Friday at 6.5409
- RBNZ monetary policy meeting this week - brief preview
- CBA has dropped its end of 2021 Australian unemployment rate forecast to 5% from 5.5%
- Japan data - indicator to the consumer price index +0.9% y/y
- Japan media reports Governor of Osaka may ask for a state of emergency declaration
- Fed's Powell says does not want to return to bad old days of inflation
- RBNZ monetary policy review due Wednesday 14 April 2021 - preview
- Israeli study finds South African COVID-19 mutant may beat the Pfizer vaccine
- Iran says one of its nuclear facilities was hit by a "terrorist act"
- BoA - Federal Reserve dovishness is not sustainable, sudden shift could shock markets
- Trade ideas thread - Monday 12 April 2021
- Media reports that the UK and EU are close to agreeing to a trading agreement for Northern Ireland
- ECB Panetta weekend comments - must accept no further delay in lifting inflation
- Monday morning open levels - indicative forex prices - 12 April 2021
- Fed's Powell: Economy really seems to be at an inflection point
- Bitcoin gets a weekend bid again, climbs above $60,000
- Jack Ma under fire again - China fines Alibaba 18bn yuan (circa US$2.8bn)
- Its that time again. Earnings season starts up next week.
The Monday Asia session has seen a higher US dollar almost across the major FX board with yen bucking that move, USD/JPY has dropped to circa 109.50 as I post. US Federal Reserve Chair Powell spoke in an interview with TV show 60 Minutes in which he was fairly sanguine about the progress being made for the US economy with the usual caveats, on the whole he came across as fairly upbeat. As I said earlier, he won't go hiking rates any time soon but the warning I psoted from Bank of America / Merrill Lynch earlier in the day re when tightening does come it is likelt to be harder and faster than current consensus expects is worth pondering given the incoming data on the US economy. There were remarks also over the weekend from an ECB executive leaning towards more/faster easing steps for policy (see bullets above).
On the geo-political front there was an explosion at an Iranian nuclear facility, Iran has attributed it to a terrorist attack. Oil has been barely responsive to the news.
Coronavirus headlines centred on an Israeli study warning the Pfizer vaccine may lose some effectiveness against the South African mutant strain of the virus.
CHF, AUD, NZD, EUR, CAD, GBP are all lower against the USD while yen has gained. Ranges have not been large. Bitcoin is is trading just above US$60K.
Regional equities were a mixed bag:
- Japan's Nikkei -0.5%, Topix -0.2%
- China's Shanghai Composite -0.8%
- Hong Kong's Hang Seng -1%
- Australia's S&P/ASX 200 -0.45%
