Forex news for Asia trading Thursday 27 April 2017
- BOJ leaves monetary policy unchanged, boosts outlook for Japan economy
- WSJ: RBA Board’s Harper Says Weak Job Market Might Be Turning
- White House: "President Trump agreed not to terminate NAFTA at this time"
- China Industrial Profits (March): +23.8%% y/y (prior +2.3%)
- Australian import (+1.2% q/q) and export (+9.4% q/q) price indexes for Q1
- Unconfirmed reports - airstrikes on Syria's Mezzeh & International Airports in Damascus
- PBOC sets USD/CNY reference rate for today at 6.8896 (vs. yesterday at 6.8845)
- US Commerce Sec. Ross: Probe into aluminium imports, could be restrictions
- NZ finance minister Joyce says to target lowering government debt
- Plenty of NAFTA speculation about. US to renegotiate or withdraw?
- Long enough to cover the essentials, short enough to keep it interesting (spoiler - ECB preview)
- Did the bell just ring for a plunge in Canada's real estate market?
- Here is a shorter ECB preview
- Daiwa on a potential "slightly more upbeat" assessment in the BOJ Outlook Report
- Yes its BOJ day, but its ECB day too! Preview
- European Central Bank meet today - the times to watch (announcements etc.)
- Australian PM Turnbull on local media now, talking about his gas
- AUD traders - heads up for Treasurer and RBA Governor both speaking today
- China's Pres. Xi remarks reported overnight - financial safety “strategically important”
- ICYMI: Forexlive Americas forex news wrap: Trump tax plan (well outline) released
- Australian PM intervenes with new export restrictions on gas
- Here's another Bank of Japan preview (announcement today)
- USD/JPY, US equity futures ... pass the imodium
- Trade ideas thread - Thursday 27 April 2017
- Its Bank of Japan day! Here is what time to expect the announcement
- Economic data calendar in Asia today (spoiler, like the tax plan, nothin' much ... )
- US stocks can't hold onto gains. End marginally lower.
It was a day pretty much spent waiting on the Bank of Japan policy announcement and outlook update after its two-day meeting. Ahead of the announcements currencies were quite subdued, with yen a bit of a standout (in relative terms) ... but with a jump for currencies on the NAFTA headline (I'll get to this).
USD/JPY ticked higher after final US afternoon lows under 110.90 (briefly), steadily up in the Tokyo morning to circa 111.40. EUR, CHF, GBP, AUD and NZD all lacklustre. USD/CAD edged a little higher.
Heading in to midday (Tokyo time) though, we got a spurt of action. The White House released its "Readout" of President Trump's phone call with President Peña Nieto of Mexico & Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada, with news that Trump had agreed not to terminate NAFTA at this time, and that the 3 leaders had agreed to renegotiate the trade treaty.
CAD jumped on the news, USD/CAD from around 1.3640-odd (its session high) down to below 1.3580. USD/MXN fell from above 19.20 toward (& under) 19.00.
AUD and NZD benefited, too, though not to the same extent. EUR/USD popped a few points but was soon little changed again. USD/CHF, little changed too while cable managed to track a few points higher.
After the NAFTA 'nouncement it was back to waiting for the Bank of Japan. But not for too long.
The monetary policy statement and the quarterly outlook report both hit expectations:
- No change to monetary policy
- An upgrade to the economic outlook
- A downgrade (its gonna take longer) to the inflation outlook
Yen barely moved in response, and other currencies little changed also. And, just for giggles ... the next BOJ meeting is June 15 and 16.
As I update, CAD and MXN are still on the move, and someone has lit a fire under NZD/USD, to a fresh session high near 0.6920.
- USD/CAD sliding further, around 1.3533
- USD/MXN too, down around 18.96
Regional equities:
- Nikkei -0.29%
- Shanghai -0.40%
- HK -0.07%
- ASX flat
Still to come: Its European Central Bank meeting day, followed by Draghi's press conference:
- Long enough to cover the essentials, short enough to keep it interesting (spoiler - ECB preview)
- Here is a shorter ECB preview (NAB)
- ECB preview: Is this Draghi's last chance to talk down the euro?
- European Central Bank meet today - the times to watch (announcements etc.)
- BoA / Merrill Lynch on what to expect from the European Central Bank today and further out (this is a long piece)
Oh, and Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Lowe is speaking, due 0910GMT
