The forex trading headlines for Asia trading today:
- Cyprus state TV (RIK) reports revised deposit tax would exempt savers with deposits under €20,000
- RBA’s Debelle: Offshore demand for $A government bonds remain strong
- RBA’s Lowe – says there are tentative signs of lower interest rates starting to boost housing, asset prices, consumption (and more from Lowe)
- Australian Business Confidence: Roy Morgan survey at the highest level since April 2011
- RBA March policy meeting minutes: Economy responding to low rates, repeats there is scope to cut (more here, including a link to the full minutes) – the minutes also signaled rates are “clearly below normal” levels
- New Zealand finance minister English: New Zealand dollar is overvalued
- Conference Board China Leading Economic Index +1.3% in February
- China’s February foreign direct investment +6.3% y/y (increase for the first time in 9 months)
Yen was the only mover in Asia today, with USD/JPY steadily marching higher to 95.75 (EUR/JPY to 124.13) before settling into a tight range around 95.55 (and 123.85). Kuroda begins his new role as BOJ head tomorrow. there is still talk of an ‘emergency’ meeting sometime ahead of the scheduled April 3 and 4 policy-setting meeting.
NZD/USD took a quick 15 point loss on finance minister English’s comments, but there was no follow-through and it settled around 1.8250. AUD/USD, too, had a quiet session in a tight range.
EUR/USD was in a 20-point range for the day. A vote in the Cypriot parliament is due during the European session.
GBP/USD, too, was sideways for today ahead of the raft of data releases due there in the UK day.
