Forex news for Asia trading Friday 5 April 2019
- European Council President Tusk proposing 12 month "flexible" extension to Brexit date
- The BOJ is the Japanese stock market's #1 bag holder ….
- Goldman Sachs looking for 1.09 on AUD/NZD, can it do more?
- Brexit - keep an eye on this when London begins to get active later
- Goldman Sachs revise the forecasts for the Australian dollar higher (& for NZD lower)
- More from Xinhua - China Vice Premier says new consensus reached in trade talks
- AUD pop, yen drop on the Xinhua headline
- Reports that "Saudi Arabia threatens to ditch dollar oil trades to stop 'NOPEC'"
- China state media report President Xi lauds substantial progress on trade agreement
- More on North Korea building a ballistic missile submarine
- Japan wages data, February (out early): Labour cash earnings -0.8% y/y (expected 0.9%)
- Japan data - Household spending for February: 1.7% y/y (expected 1.9%)
- Morgan Stanley on no-deal Brexit blocked - has reduced risk for GBP
- More Brexit ICYMI: PM May's ministers have discussed possibility of 2nd referendum with Labour
- Brexit ICYMI: More UK press reports minister plan a mass resignation
- UK press: UK PM May will formally request another Brexit extension
- Ecuador said to have reached agreement with UK for arrest of Assange
- Recap of the Trump announcements on no trade deal with China
- Australia Construction sector PMI for March 45.6, prior 43.9
- Trade ideas thread - Friday 5 April 2019
- Trump back on China now - trade talks may go on another 6 weeks
- Trump comments on Mexico now - he might tariff cars at 25%
- US trade rep Lighthizer says still some major, major issues left in trade talks
- Trump says getting close to trade deal with China, not there yet
- IMF head Lagarde says trade issues between the US and China are 'being addressed'
China and HK were closed today for a holiday. And it was pre-NFP session. But we had some movement nonetheless here during the session, notably AUD/JPY adding on a bit of gain.
4.30pm NY time brought comments out of the White House, Trump making positive sounds on trade talks but with little substance - still 4 or maybe 6 (or more) weeks away (the thing is, the market realises, is that improvement is always 4 to 6 weeks away with his promises), and the difficult issues are still, still, unresolved. Lighthizer and Navarro back him up on his more downbeat comments, both making far less positive comments.
Currency reaction was minimal.
Now, here is the thing, currencies did move a few hours later on comments out of China on the trade talks, with Xinhua reporting:
- President Xi said there had been substantial progress
- Vice Premier Hui Le said a new consensus had been reached.
AUD popped, yen dropped, giving AUD/JPY a boost. As an aside, note where traders are now looking to for credibility, the Chinese administration. While 'risk' loved the comments its clear that traders have friend zoned Trump, well and truly.
USD/JPY popped towards 111.80 (some of the Tokyo's fixings were slightly above), AUD/USD topped just before 0.7125. These two were the movers, albeit not a huge range for either.
NZD/USD, EUR/USD, USD/CAD are all little net changed on the session after minor variation.
Cable has edged a few tics to the better from early Asia, but again, a tight range.
Gold and CHF have both lost a little.
Still to come:
