- N.Z. 2Q unemployment rate 6.8% with forecast of 6.5%.
- N.Z. QV July house prices y/y rose 4.6%.
- N.Z. ANZ August consumer confidence 114.1 (vs 110.5 prior).
- Japan July M2 money grows 2.2%/M3 money grows 1.9% -MNI
- Japan June machine orders rose 5.6%m/m, fell 9.9% y/y- MNI
- Japan capital flows for the week ended August 4.-MNI
- Japan 2Q housing loans y/y rose 2.7% (prior 2.4%).
- Australia July employment change up 14.0K (forecast 10.0K) . Rate 5.2% vs (forecast 5.3%).
- Tokyo July average office vacancies 9.3 (vs 9.43 prior)
- China July CPI 1.8 % (forecast 1.7%) , July PPI fell 2.9% ( forecast -2.5%).
- BOJ keeps policy steady, keeps key overnight rate unchanged at zero to 0.1%
A surprise start to the evening with New Zealand employment numbers disappointing the market coming in at 6.8% (a 2 year high) when forecast were calling for 6.5% . Kiwi went from 0.8160 prior to the number to a low of 0.8111. Bids slowly appeared and help support the Kiwi now trading at 0.8145.
Aussie $ had a slightly better than expected employment number . After finding support around the 1.0550 level , Aud traded up to 1.0570 before the employment number . Afterwards, it could only manage a 20 point rally to 1.0590. Later Aud finally traded the 1.0600 level but strong offers continued to stall the rally . One last attempt succeeded in getting through to a high of 1.0610. With China IP, retail sales and fixed assets all due out in about an hour Aussie should consolidate around this 1.0600 level .
Euro basically was a non-event with buyers below around 1.2345/50 and sellers above 1.2390.
Usd/Jpy was a non-event with the BOJ leaving policy and the key overnight rate unchanged had the Yen consolidating around the 78.40/50 most of the session .
Good luck today.
