Forex news for Asia trading Tuesday 24 March 2015
- China - HSBC manufacturing PMI for March (Flash): 49.2 (vs. expected 50.5) and more here
- Reuters: Central banks agree new rules for FX market conduct
- JP Morgan: Sees China RRR cut as early as April
- (Former) Fed's Fisher: US is in a 'sweet spot' right now
- Fed's Williams: Wage growth a weak predictor of US inflation
- China - Conference Board leading index +1.5%(prior +0.5)
- NZ finance minister English: NZD gains a headwind for exports
- Fed's Williams: Appropriate by mid-year to discuss raising rates
- Japan March flash manufacturing PMI: 50.4 (prior 51.6)
- Australia - Conference Board leading index +0.4% m/m
- Stop me if you've heard this one: BOJ head Kuroda to appear in parliament today
- Australian dollar - Morgan Stanley cuts iron ore price forecast
- FXCM ... these clowns really are totally clueless
- EUR/USD - where will this run up stop and turn lower?
- Australian yields still attractive - flows to AUD frustrating for the RBA
- China Beige Book - Solid corporate performance, labor market in decent shape
- Australia - ANZ weekly consumer sentiment: 111.4 (prior was 110.8)
- Fed's Fischer overnight comments - Rate hike probably warranted before end 2015
- Japan government raised its assessment of the economy for the first time in eight months
- Fed's Bullard in the FT ... devastation!
A day of US dollar strength nearly across the FX board. It was flow driven as there wasn't much in the way of news to impact (China PMI aside).
EUR, GBP and CHF all fell against the USD after all gaining a little in the early going once the US had closed, with decent sized moves for this timezone (if you trade the UK/US timezones, please stop laughing at us :-D ).
AUD/USD followed a similar pattern but had some added weakness on the release of the HSBC China flash manufacturing PMI for March. The result (see bullets, above) showed a dip back into contraction for this measure, with employment (a key Chinese policy goal) slipping for the 17th month in succession. AUD/USD did find support around 0.7835 and has stabilised from there.
NZD/USD was similar, but has spiked in the last fw minutes, gaining 30-odd points in quick time. We are expecting news from Fonterra within a few hours, which is driving positioning flows.
Oil dropped following the China PMI news. Gold a little weaker on the session also.
