Forex news for Asia trading for Wednesday 24 March 2021
- ICYMI - Honda will extend production suspensions at some North American plants on supply chain issues
- China's anti-pollution emissions targets cited for lower aluminium futures
- Hong Kong, Macau vaccine news contributing to risk sliding further in Asia
- AUD/USD head and shoulders top attracting some attention
- Chip shortage update - Taiwan says its not threatened by Intel's massive investment in new chip plants
- PBOC sets USD/ CNY mid-point today at 6.5228 (vs. yesterday at 6.5036)
- Australia's largest (population) state to substantially remove COVID-19 restrictions from Monday
- Macau, HK (China) have suspended use of BioNtech vaccine
- Australia preliminary Trade Balance for February 8.1 bn (prior 10.142bn)
- Japan Jibun Bank / Markit preliminary PMIs for March: Manufacturing 52.0 (prior 51.4)
- Here's a plug for the Suez Canal (I'll see myself out)
- Bank of Japan January meeting minutes
- Japan PPI Services for February -0.1% y/y (expected -0.5%)
- EUR/USD at risk of a further decline, levels to watch for a breakdown
- More from Australia's Treasury - long way to go before wage pressure generated
- $806m Bitcoin transfer registered ... institutional flow?
- St. Louis Fed President Bullard with clarification, once again - Fed is now less pre-emptive
- Australian Treasury Sec says expects a spike in long term unemployment
- Fitch on Australia, NZ - reduced headwinds, improving economic conditions
- Australia preliminary March Markit PMIs: Manufacturing 57.0 (prior 56.6) Services 56.2 (54.1)
- Blinken spoke with Germany, UK on the challenges posed by Russia, China
- NZ Trade balance for February 181m NZD (expected NZD 181m)
- BoC Gravelle says sees a smoother recovery
- Fed's Bullard says he sees the target rate staying near zero through 2023
- US President Biden says the US will have 600m doses of vaccine by the end of May
- Heads up for US President Biden speaking
- A ‘Mega Ship’ has run aground, blocking the Suez Canal in both directions
- Intel to splash US$20bn in capex on two new chip plants in Arizona
- Trade ideas thread - Wednesday 24 March 2021
- Private oil survey data shows surprise headline crude oil build in inventory
- North Korea fired multiple missiles over the weekend and no-one noticed
- Fed's Bullard looking for 6.5% GDP growth, unemployment down to 4.5% this year
- Fed's Brainard says expects to see transitory increases in inflation
- Reports that Robinhood have filed for an IPO
The USD gained strongly during Europe/US time on Tuesday and the move carried on (to a lesser extent) here in Asia on Wednesday. NZD and AUD were once again the biggest losers. AUD was not helped by comments from the Treasury on job losses and slow wage pressures ahead (see bullets above). There was no fresh news of much impact (for the shipping news, see below). The focus remained on oil having given back gains on expectations of lower demand as virus waves rampage through Europe and lockdown measures spread, calling into question the 'reflation trade' and the much-touted commodity supercycle.
Data flow, too, was light. Japan's preliminary PMIs (March) were encouraging with a move further into expansion for manufacturing and while services and composite both remained in contraction they too showed improvement.
Regional stocks followed the losses on Wall Street with losses, some quite ugly:
Japan's Nikkei -1.4%
China's Shanghai Composite -1.2%
Hong Kong's Hang Seng -1.8%
Given the firmness of the USD gold has performed well on the session. It languished early but pretty much held its overnight low before adding on a few dollars to gain above $1734 at one stage.
While not directly forex, one of the world's largest container ships ran aground in the Suez Canal, throwing another spanner in the works of global shipping and trade. The Ever Given is still wedged and is blocking ship traffic in both directions, 100 ships are lined up behind (and counting).
