Forex news for Asia trading Friday 12 August 2016
China:
- Is a free floating Chinese yuan still more than a decade away?
- More from China's NBS following the data misses today
- China NBS - Economic recovery not as strong as expected
- China data - Industrial Production: 6% y/y (expected 6.2%), Retail sales 10.2% y/y (expected 10.5%)
- PBOC sets USD/CNY mid-point today at 6.6543 (vs. yesterday at 6.6255)
- More on the "yuan appreciation in long-term" headline
- China Securities News says yuan has room to appreciate in long-term
- Thailand explosions - 'series of bombs and fires'
- Re Vanuatu earthquake - all tsunami alerts cancelled
- Vanuatu earthquake - tsunami alert
- Australia data - Credit card purchases and balances for June
- USD strength gaining some steam as Asian market action heats up
- RBNZ's McDermott comments on the wires
- Japan back from holidays, USD/JPY trading higher
- Australia - more aluminium industry job losses?
- Oil "back to a level where it seems to be stabilizing"
- NZ data - Retail Sales (ex. inflation) for Q2 : 2.3% q/q (expected 1.0%, prior 0.8%)
- New Zealand - Manufacturing PMI for July: 55.8 (prior 57.7)
- Jackson Hole central bank symposium - dissenting voices silenced?
- Australia - "The RBA's impotence on show for the world"
- US banks want more time to comply with the Volcker rule
- Trade ideas thread (TGIF!) 12 August 2016
Some USD strength during the session beginning as Tokyo got active this morning.
USD/JPY climbed back above 102. Not that the range was large, it topped out just above 102.15 and has since come back below the figure toward 101.90. There was little Japan news today.
It was a similar story for EUR, EUR/USD losing a little ground (down toward 1.1130) before recovering in a small range up above 1.1145 as I update.
Cable managed to hold a gain today though, it has ticked quietly higher from lows around 1.2950 to above 1.2975 (so again not a big range).
USD/CHF is little changed, down a few points only.
The slightly stronger USD was also reflected in the AUD (and to a smaller degree in the kiwi). AUD/USD dipped under 0.7700 in the early going and then under 0.7690 in the Tokyo morning.
As the morning progressed we got some data from China, industrial production, retail sales and asset investment, all of which missed expectations, the AUD did not extend its losses on the poorer China data, consolidating around its lows (just above 0.7570) and recovering a few points to now as I type.
The misses on China data were explained away by a spokesman for the statistics bureau; flooding, hot summer, its not that bad ... take your pick .... (see bullets above). Despite the excuses the market is still murmuring on the prospects for further stimulus from China to come.
All in all a relatively subdued session ahead of the week's closing sessions still due from Europe/UK and the US.
Regional equities:
- Nikkei +0.88%
- Shanghai -0.24%
- HK +0.80%
- ASX +0.18%
US swimmer Michel Phelps bull market continuation .... Olympic gold medal #22 for the man today.
