Forex news for Asia trading Wednesday 18 May 2016
- Who wants to a Bachelors Degree in Bitcoin?
- If you've been waiting for the G7 meeting agenda ... wait no more!
- Japan chief cabinet secretary Suga: Japan winning deflation battle
- USD not lying down in Asia - up everywhere
- China finance ministry says to maintain tax rebate policy for steel exports
- China April house price data: New home prices +6.2% y/y (if you are a China housing bear, best not to read this ... especially the Shenzen y/y result!)
- Australian Q1 Wage Price Index: 0.4% q/q (expected +0.5%)
- PBOC sets USD/CNY central rate at 6.5216 (vs. yesterday at 6.5200)
- RBA's Debelle: welcomes increased role of yuan in global markets
- Japan economy minister Ishihara: "... moderate recovery trend" (blah, blah)
- Australia Westpac Leading Index for April +0.24% (prior -0.10%)
- Japan GDP big, big beat. Responses coming in.
- Japan - comments from Hamada and Yamamoto
- Japanese Q1 GDP (preliminary): 0.4% q/q (expected +0.1%, prior -0.3%)
- Clinton tweets that Trump's proposal to dismantle Dodd-Frank is 'reckless'
- NZ data - Q1 PPI Input : -1.0% q/q (prior -1.2%) & PPI Output: -0.2% q/q (prior -0.8%)
- FOMC minutes due Wednesday - preview
- Headlines that go together: 2 or 3 Fed rate hikes & the uptick in the use of marijuana
- "Soros likes gold". But beware of very old data.
- Trump says he is not the enemy of Yellen, auditing Fed not top priority
- Oil - American Petroleum Institute (API) inventory data: Draw of 1.1 million barrels
A day of overall US dollar strength in Asia today, helped along by some local factors.
Japanese Q1 GDP came in at a huge beat on expectations (see bullets above) that may, unfortunately get unwound next quarter due to earthquakes last month. But for today, it was encouraging data. The detail was less positive, though, with a poor business capex component and also the deflator falling from the previous reading. These factors combined to keep the potential for further BOJ easing a focus.
USD/JPY lost some ground on the GDP release but soon recovered to hit a new high for the session above 109.30.
Sending the AUD/USD still lower, Australian wage growth came in a little under expectations, still growing but at its slowest pace on record. This sign of subdued wage inflation raises the prospects for more RBA rate cuts.
Keeping with the strong USD theme, NZD, CHF, EUR and GBP all lost a little ground against the big buck.
Even gold lost ground, losing around $5 from earlier highs. Oil was flattish after the API data came out with a stock draw in the US afternoon.
Regional equities:
- Nikkei +0.28%
- Shanghai -1.74%
- HK -1.68%
- ASX -0.41%
Still to come: Hillary Clinton appears to have won the Kentucky Primary in a very close contest. Not confirmed yet.
More on China house prices in April
