Forex and Bitcoin news for Asia trading Thursday 17 May 2018
- Tokyo earthquake, Chiba area (eastern Japan) - preliminary magnitude 5.3
- More China / US trade headlines - China to levy some reciprocal tariffs
- New Zealand budget - government forecasts higher surpluses
- Australia jobs report for April: Employment Change +22.6K (vs. expected +20.0K)
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY central rate at 6.3679 (vs. yesterday at 6.3745)
- More on oil: "geopolitical risks continue to support prices"
- Goldman Sachs on oil: fundamentals more bullish, robust demand, supply disappointments
- Japanese government to inform the WTO its ready to retaliate on US trade restrictions
- Japan Core Machinery Orders for March: -3.9% m/m (vs. expected -3.0%)
- Here's why USD/JPY is heading to 115
- GBP extending its gains since the earlier news on Brexit & the customs union
- NZ data - PPI rises slower in Q1 than previous
- Barclays says it does not think US rates will rise sustainably from here
- Fed's Bullard speaking now - says inflation expectations are firming
- UK press reports UK said to inform EU it intends to remain in customs union
- Trade ideas thread - Thursday 17 May 2018
Quite a few little moves here in Asia today, summed up with a weaker USD nearly across the board. But the impactful news was mainly idiosyncratic to currencies:
- GBP moved higher on a UK press report the government wants to stay in the customs union with the EU
- AUD popped a little on the Australian employment report - it was not a bad report, while jobs growth is a little slower, its still growth; and hours worked is accelerating
- NZD managed gains after the budget - the government bumping up both GDP forecasts and surplus estimates
There were also remarks out of China re trade tensions with the US, on the combative side ahead of talks scheduled to begin tomorrow in Washington. Japan chimed in with retaliation on US tariffs also.
So, yeah, USD weaker. EUR/USD managed only a few points higher, above 1.1830 at one stage but slightly bigger moves for USD/CHF (down to below 0.9990 at one stage) and USD/JPY (from around 110.35 it dipped under 110.10 briefly.
The HKMA (Hong Kong Monetary Authority) bought 4.89n HKD early on Thursday. They had bought 1.57bn yesterday also. HKMA in the market as the HK dollar hit 7.85 ( against USD), which is the bottom end of it trading band, again.
Still to come:
