Forex news for Asia trading Wednesday 7 June 2017
- CBA on Australian Q1 GDP and implications for RBA monetary policy
- Australian Q1 GDP - analyst responses coming in
- Australia - RBA's graphs on the Australian economy & financial markets out now
- Australia Q1 GDP: +0.3% q/q (expected +0.3%)
- PBOC sets USD/CNY mid-point today at 6.7858 (vs. yesterday at 6.7934)
- Australian Q1 GDP due at the bottom of the hour - another preview
- Australian Q1 GDP due at the bottom of the hour - quickie preview
- China forex reserves data (for May) due soon - what to expect
- A detailed piece from Barclays on the RBA decision
- Australia - Construction PMI for May: 56.7 (prior 51.9)
- UK election poll (Opinium): CON: 43% (-), LAB: 36% (-1)
- Poll: Qatar is on the nose - so, what happens with the 2022 soccer World Cup?
- NZ Q1 Manufacturing Activity: +2.8% (prior +0.8%)
- New Zealand - ANZ Job Ads for May: -0.6% m/m (prior +0.4%)
- S&P on the US: Rating affirmed, outlook remains stable
- Japan press - MoF wants direct exchange of yen without using USD as intermediary
- ICYMI, link to Greg's bizarre post. And here's what he missed.
- Economic data due from Asia today (Aussie GDP ... but who cares?)
- Trade ideas thread - Wednesday 7 June 2017
- New Zealand - Renewed RBNZ Policy Targets Agreement (PTA) signed
- ICYMI - Forexlive Americas FX news wrap: Dollar retreat to the downside led by USDJPY
- OIL - private inventory data shows US crude stocks bigger than expected draw
- UK election modelling indicates 60+ seat majority for Conservatives
- ICYMI - US stocks end the day with negative signs
On the data calendar today Q1 GDP from Australia was the focus, but I'll get to that in a moment.
The USD was a small gainer in general today, higher nearly across the board. There was little in the way of news nor data to drive a move, it seemed more about an Asian time-zone (tiny) retracement. USD/JPY tested towards its NY time low in the very early Tokyo morning but has since popped a little higher (around 25 or so points). EUR/USD followed a similar pattern, in reverse of course, EUR/USD toward its NY high earlier before dribbling a few points lower to be down 30+ points from its high. USD/CHF has added a few points during the session, while cable is little net changed on the session (and on session lows as I update).
The People's Bank of China gave USD/CNY another shove lower again today after taking a little breather on Tuesday. The PBOC continues to squeeze yuan shorts, seeking two-way risk in the currency (emphasising that devaluation is not a sure bet and seeking less capital outflow pressure - FX reserves data is due later today and is expected to show continued stabilisation).
And so to Australia, where 'We haven't had a recession for a million years" (or whatever it is now) complacency received another (tiny) boost in the form of a (tiny) 0.3% gain for Q1 (q/q, and an anaemic 1.7% y/y). I posted commentary in the bullets re the data above, I won't repeat it here. But 0.3% is not a stellar performance, and it is very difficult indeed to see GDP hitting forecasts envisioned by the Reserve Bank of Australia. Still, it wasn't a negative, as many had feared, and the Australian dollar popped a little on the data release, from a base it had established for itself just above 0.7500 to around 0.7540 where its just below as I update.
NZD and CAD are both little changed against the USD.
Gold also little changed while oil popped early (late US) on inventory data but has edged a few cents back from highs since.
Regional equities:
- Nikkei -0.17%
- Shanghai +0.93%
- HK +0.10%
- ASX -0.14%
Still to come:
China forex reserves data (for May) (SCMP article)
- expected $3046bn, prior 3029.5bn
