Forex news for Asia trading
for Wednesday
14
April 2021
There
were minor moves only for major FX during the session here today with
a touch more US dollar softness the overriding theme. USD/JPY slipped
to under 108.80 while GBP, AUD, NZD EUR all recovered from very minor
weakness early to record fresh highs compared with Tuesday US trade
(not by much though).
Coronavirus
news centred on a pause in Johnson and Johnson vaccinations in the US
and for Europe. This does need to be seen in the context of the J&J
vaccine running very far behind Pfizer and Moderna in US
vaccinations. Pausing (or stopping) usage of J&J is not good
news, but its not going to have a huge impact either. Other
news flow was light.
On
the data front we had a very poor result indeed from Japanese
machinery orders, which does not auger well for capex in the months ahead. From Australia, yesterday’s solid business survey was backed up today by a very
strong consumer confidence report (the WPAC survey of consumer
sentiment hits its highest in 11 years, very much like after the
bounce back from the GFC). Singapore Q1 GDP surprised to the topside.
Speaking
of Singapore, and moving on to central bank activity in the region
today, the Monetary Authority of Singapore held monetary
policy unchanged at its meeting. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand was
the same, holding policy steady. Both announcements were in line with
what analysts expected. The
RBNZ provided no surprise. The
Bank is holding to a “wait
and see” approach, and
said once again that dialling back of monetary
stimulus remains a long way off, given uncertainties about the
economic
outlook.The People’s Bank of China set the USD/CNY mid-rate at its strongest (for onshore yuan) in around 3 weeks.
Bitcoin held above $63K.
Regional
equities:
-
Japan’s
Nikkei -0.3%,
Topix -0.3% - China’s
Shanghai Composite +0.25% - Hong
Kong’s Hang Seng +0.95% - Australia’s
S&P/ASX 200 +0.39%