Forex headlines for Asia trading Wednesday 25 February 2015
- Forex broker unravelling in Hungary after SNB, banks may be caught in scandal
- Trading a Non trending market. A look at the GBPAUD (VIDEO)
China - back today after the lunar new year holiday break
- HSBC 'Flash' China manufacturing PMI for February: 50.1 (expected 49.5)
- China said to be preparing policies to boost property if slump continues
- Another look at the HSBC flash China manufacturing PMI
- CBA: China flash PMI may increase pressure to weaken yuan
- People's Bank of China (PBOC) sets yuan reference rate at 6.1384 (lowest since February 2)
New Zealand/Australia
- Australian construction work Q4 2014 ... conditions were generally soft in the quarter
- Australian wage inflation holds at record low - more detail
- Australia Q4 construction work done: -0.2 % q/q (expected -1.0%)
- Australia Q4 wage price index: +0.6% q/q (expected +0.6%)
- More from RBNZ's Wheeler: Auckland rents are increasing
- Australian PM, Treasurer comments on housing market, foreign investment
- RBNZ Governor Wheeler: Auckland housing in a supply side problem
- Australia press: RBA tipped to leave rates on hold at next week's meeting
- RBA meeting next week - 5 things to watch ahead of the rates decision
- Aus. Treasury Secretary Fraser - Would have to be a pretty terrible event to hurt rating
- Australian Treasury Secretary Fraser - outlook for global economy remains weak
Japan
- Japan parliament approves Yutaka Harada for BOJ board seat
- Japan's cabinet on Tuesday put off a large-scale governance overhaul of the GPIF
- Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Kuroda to attend Diet today from 0500GMT
Oil
- Ecuador President agrees OPEC should call an emergency meeting
- API data - weekly crude stocks +8.9 million barrels
- Moody's: May be scope for looser India monetary policy on low oil
USD weakness across the board in the Asian session today, with some currencies benefitting a lot more than others.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars led the pack, along with gold (is gold a currency? ...), carrying on mightily from the strength they showed post-Yellen (after the initial hiccup). Australian construction data was a little better ... actually, make a little less worse than expected ... but saw not a lot of response to the data (the AUD had moved up ahead of the release in line with a weaker USD in early Tokyo/China, Singapore/Hong Kong). The flash reading for February's HSBC China manufacturing PMI coming in at a surprising expansion gave the AUD and NZD a bigger boost. This despite misgivings on the weak export orders component of the data (see bullets, above). The Bloomberg story about the potential for measures to counter the housing slump in China didn't do the Aussie and Kiwi any harm, both running along the top of the day's range after.
USD/JPY was another mover on the day, chunking down 30-odd points.
EUR and GBP both chipped away at small gains, too, while the CHF is pretty flat against the USD and EUR after having a bit of wiggle during the session.
Gold was a strongish performer, up around $10 or so. Oil was basically flat after recovering from a very slight dip on the release of the API data (see bullets, above) data to subscribers at the end of the NY day.
