Forex news from the Asian trading session - 30 April 2018
Headlines:
- New Zealand Treasury sees 1H 2018 annual GDP growth below 3%
- JP Morgan sees some moderation in China's GDP growth later this year
- Australia March private sector credit +0.5% vs +0.4% m/m expected
- Moody's says easing of hostility with North Korea is credit positive for South Korea
- Melbourne Institute April inflation gauge +0.5% vs +0.1% m/m prior
- China April manufacturing PMI 51.4 vs 51.3 expected
- New Zealand April ANZ business confidence -23.4 vs -20.0 prior
- Japan's FSA seeks to tighten FX leverage for retail traders - report
- Fitch says housing downturn could pressure Australian bank ratings
- Heads up for China and Japan holidays today (and for the week)
- S. Korea industrial production fell -4.3% YoY versus expected -1.6%
- Goldman says there is risk the tightening cycle will peak higher than currently forecast
- UK Home Secretary Rudd resigns over immigration scandal
Markets:
- USD leads, AUD lags to start the day
- Asian equities mostly higher, led by Hang Seng +1.54%
- Gold down by 0.09% to $1,322.19
- WTI down by 0.37% to $67.85
- Bitcoin up by 4.4% at $9,373
Chinese and Japanese markets are closed today, making for limited action in Asian trading today. Liquidity conditions are a bit thin because of that, and there will be more days like this during the week too.
Ranges remain tight for the most of the major pairs but there is a bit of an extension late in the session for commodity currencies. The kiwi and aussie were the ones hit the hardest, with the loonie not too far behind.
Both AUD/USD and NZD/USD failed a test to firmly break above the 100-hour MA and was marked lower as a result, inching towards session lows of 0.7559 and 0.7063 earlier. Ranges are still relatively narrow, but compared to the other major currencies the moves here are the most evident so far.
And all this despite the fact that Chinese data beat estimates for the most part - highlighting the steady but unspectacular growth we're seeing in the Chinese economy this year as authorities continue their deleveraging efforts. Asian equities are also holding up well on the day, but so far is providing little comfort to the aussie or the kiwi.
Meanwhile, the dollar leads the charge on the day but is barely changed against the other major currencies. Let's see if we will get a continuation of the theme we saw from last week heading into European trading.
