Forex news for Asia trading Friday 22 February 2019
- BOJ Gov Kuroda says discussed global economy with Japan's PM Abe
- Australian press on how to steal gold from the Reserve Bank of Australia
- NZ have found a second fruit fly in Auckland
- ICYMI: Rising UK-China oil trade could soften blow of no-deal Brexit
- BOJ Gov Kuroda has entered PM Abe's office for a meeting
- NZD - RBNZ says rise in bank capital could lead to eventual rate cut
- Australian PM Morrison says relationship with China is not souring
- CNBC report US China trade talks said to be positive
- FT on China's import restrictions of Australian coal - the aftermath
- China house price growth +0.6% m/m in January (+0.8% in December)
- More RBA Lowe: Possible the labour market strength lagging earlier strong GDP
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY central rate at 6.7151 (vs. yesterday at 6.7220)
- WSJ reports US wants China to accept "tough new strictures"
- Good morning China! Is now a good time for some trade talk headlines?
- More from RBA's Lowe - Probability of direction next rate move broadly balanced
- Japan finance minister Aso: Knows of US-China talks, but cannot comment on currency
- Trump says the US economy is stronger than it's ever been before
- Rising tensions between two nuclear powers in Asia - keep an eye on this
- Japan January headline inflation 0.2% y/y (exp 0.2%)
- RBA's Lowe - economic outlook is positive
- IMF says Australia has made progress on economic rebalancing
- RBA's Lowe says surprised by AUD drop on China coal news
- RBA's Lowe upbeat on house price falls
- RBA's Lowe optimistic on China moves against Australian coal exports
- RBA Gov Lowe speaking now - central scenario is 3% GDP growth this year
- More on the EUR pressure post
- Further significant pressure on the euro about to come? What to watch for.
- Trade ideas thread - Friday 22 February 2019
- Here are three big buyers of gold
- Trump to meet with China chief trade negotiator on Friday
The week drew to a sedate close in Friday Asia trade (I'll come back to the kiwi in a moment, it was the exception). There were the occasional bursts of news and data:
- RBA Governor Lowe spoke for 3 hours in front of a parliamentary committee (a twice-yearly testimony). AUD edged a few points up while he spoke but has since come back a little and barely net changed on the session.
- There were further murmurings on 'positive' trade talks about the place, but the Wall Street Journal did publish a piece pointing out the two sides remain apart on difficult issues. China's Vice Premier Liu He will meet with US President Trump at 1930GMT Friday in the Oval Office. Let's await good news ... ?
- Japanese inflation data was published today. If you guessed it is hugely under the BOJ target, again, you are correct.
- A few feathers were ruffled a little later when Bank of Japan Governor Kuroda was spotted heading into Prime Minister Abe's office. But nerves calmed when cooler heads pointed out this a regular event (Kuroda - Abe lunch meeting twice a year) and there was no special significance to the timing.
USD/JPY has done very little all day. Cable, EUR/USD, USD/CHF the same, barely changed on the session.
USD/CAD is a few tics to the better ahead of data coming up from Canada Friday morning.
And so the NZD. It dropped sharply on a headline that the RBNZ saw a rate cut scenario as a possible eventual outcome of raising capital requirements for banks (this would tighten financial conditions and might prompt a cut). The thing is, the phasing in of higher capital requirements is over 5 years (for big banks, and 7 for smaller). The dump for the NZD would seem a tad overdone. Having said this, it has not recovered much at all and is back approaching its session low as I post. Later news on a potential risk to primary industry likely playing a role here.
Elsewhere:
- Thai trade data came in poor, Thailand's trade deficit hit its biggest in 6 years. Exports slid 5.7% in January, the sharpest decline since July 2016. Another indicator of global growth wobbles.
Still to come:
