ForexLive Asia FX news: RBA does nothing

Forex news for Asia trading Tuesday 7 March 2017

PBOC rolls over maturing MLF loans
Are the RBA too scared to do anything? Like a roo stuck in the headlights?
China’s Hubei province to shut all coal producers in 2 years & cut other overcapacity
RBA announce no change in cash rate - but check out the accompanying statement
UBS: China may cut RRR 4 times in 2017
Heads up for NZD traders - Global Dairy Trade on in London time today
Still to come from China today - February FX Reserves
ICYMI: BOJ's Masai: Big yen swings cause of concern for Japan
IMF says NZD is above fair value. No, it isn't, says NAB.
Yonhap report US begins deploying anti-missile battery in Sth. Korea
More on the 'N. Korea says missile launch targeted U.S. bases in Japan'
PBOC sets USD/CNY mid-point today at 6.8957 (vs. yesterday at 6.8790)
USD/JPY & EUR/JPY orders
EUR/USD orderboard
Trade ideas thread - Tuesday 7 March 2017
UK data- BRC Like -for-like Sales for February: -0.4% y/y (expected -0.5%)
Japan PM Abe agrees with Trump - N Korea missile launch a breach of UN resolution
Kuroda wants BOJ bond buying to be sustainable, to plan a gradual slowdown - sources
More from the IMF on NZ - NZD is moderately overvalued
Australia data: February Construction PMI jumps to 'expansion': 53.1 (prior 47.7)
Australia - ANZ-Roy Morgan weekly consumer confidence 113.9 (prior 119.1)
RBA meeting today - here are many, many previews (all in one place!)
Reserve Bank of New Zealand outlines plans for bank capital review
AUD and NZD orderboards
Yonhap: N. Korea claims it held missile launch exercise to strike U.S. base in Japan
US stocks recover from the lows, but still end the day in the red
Economic data due from Asia today (& RBA meeting)
Iraq oil minister - too early to say if OPEC should extend output cuts beyond June
ICYMI: ForexLive Americas FX news wrap: Dollar grinds, factory orders beat

I suppose the major event of the day was the Reserve Bank of Australia decision (0330GMT). I hesitate to call it a 'risk event' as there was very little doubt indeed as the cash rate outcome was all but a given, while with Governor Lowe speaking so often last week (speech, parliament appearance) the contents of the accompanying statement were not going to be too much of a mystery either.

Anyway, the cash rate left unchanged, while the statement (main points and full text) is here:

RBA announce no change in cash rate - but check out the accompanying statement

And, further thoughts:

Are the RBA too scared to do anything? Like a roo stuck in the headlights?

OK, on further reflection, yes the RBA was the major event today, cause I can't think of much else that happened. There were minor data releases, you might like to check out the details of the UK retail sales data today ... there are some troubling details in there:

UK data- BRC Like -for-like Sales for February: -0.4% y/y (expected -0.5%)

The Australian dollar traded higher leading into the RBA announcement, ticking steadily up from the get go this morning, and spiking to circa 0.7620 around the announcement. Its only a little under there as I update now, close to its session high. NZD/USD is slightly better bid also, following a similar pattern to AUD, but to a much smaller extent.

USD/JPY ticked above 114 in the Tokyo morning and then slid 20-odd points to be around 113.85 as I write and barely above its earlier low. North Korean tensions will support the yen as a 'safe haven' (liquidity-wise for now anyway) but other factors are weighing against it. Its also a question how much further the North Korean episode has to run for now. Stay tuned I guess. Apart from the latest missile launches, North Korea has said it is banning Malaysians currently in its country from leaving. That sucks.