Forex news for Asia trading Friday 12 February 2016

Japan:

  • Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Kuroda: Discussed fin mkt moves with PM Abe
  • Japan MOF's Asakawa enters PM Abe's office
  • WSJ report Abe adviser says BOJ may call meeting on further easing
  • Nikkei, USD/JPY being given a boost - old headline?
  • JP Morgan expects more BOJ easing at March 14 & 15 meeting
  • Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Kuroda 'enters Japan PM Abe's office'
  • BOJ Governor Kuroda: Won't hesitate in policy to achieve inflation target ASAP
  • Japan economy minister Ishihara: Abrupt movements in FX markets undesirable
  • Japan - Nikkei opens lower, falls
  • Japan finance minister Aso: Sudden FX moves are undesirable
  • Japan govt. official says watching FX market with sense of urgency

Australia, RBA etc.

  • ANZ like AUD/NZD: Current levels offer opportunity for long AUD/NZD exposure
  • RBA Stevens: Commodity prices still falling, AUD has adjusted
  • RBA Governor Glenn Stevens: Unlikely to be raising rates any time soon
  • Australia Home Loans (December): +2.6% m/m (expected +3.0%, prior +1.9, revised from +1.8%)
  • More from RBA's Stevens - Aussie banks small exposure to energy sector
  • RBA's Kent - Low oil prices won't have much impact on current LNG plans
  • RBA Stevens: Commodity prices still falling, AUD has adjusted
  • RBA Governor Stevens: RBA retains flexibility to ease further
  • Help me please ForexLive - We need an audit of conventional wisdom
  • Bundesbank says has no concern over German banks' liquidity
  • Japan govt. official says watching FX market with sense of urgency
  • Reuters reports JPM CEO Dimon buys 500,000 JPM shares
  • NZ data - January FPI +2.0% m/m (prior -0.8%)
  • IMF warns of Grexit all over again - more detail
  • Trade ideas thread for Friday 12 February 2016
  • IMF comments on Greece - say Grexit fears could resurface

Forex moves were not as wild as we have been seeing this week both in Asia and elsewhere, but we still had some decent movement.

Yen was once again the focus (as was the Nikkei and JGBs alongside, of course). The Nikkei opened lower and then continued to fall right through to the lunch break, going into the temporary close down more than 5% from Wednesday's close (Thursday was a Japanese holiday). USD/JPY dipped with the Nikkei early, but after piercing 112 briefly it came back to trade in a choppy fashion between about 112.10 and 112.50.

PM Abe and BOJ head Kuroda held a meeting, which was also attended by Japan's Ministry of Finance currency head Masatsugu Asakawa. USD/JPY moved higher toward 113, with rumours rife, as you'd expect, mostly centring on the possibility of an 'emergency' BOJ meeting (the next scheduled meeting is March 14 & 15) and more easing efforts, maybe even more forceful intervention (than the jawboning and rate checks we have already had). Post meeting comments from Kuroda and Asakawa made no mention of this though, with USD/JPY dipping back toward 122.50.

Elsewhere we had RBA Governor Stevens appearing before committee in the Australian parliament today. I've gathered the links (above) but, in brief, Stevens kept his comments tame and the AUD response was muted, maintaining a 30 or so point range through the day here. NZ weakened, though, its 50+ points below session highs, on little in the way of news.

EUR/USD is down on the session, nothing huge. CHF, too, is a little soft against the USD while cable is little changed at all.

Gold lost ground and oil was again not the centre of attention despite some wildness overnight.

China markets are back from the break on Monday, USD/CNH ticked a little higher today despite reported good selling from Chinese banks (back from hols early??).

Trading in South Korea's Kosdaq exchange (an exchange for the country's smaller stocks) halted for 20 minutes after the index fell 8.2% in the morning. It was the biggest fall its seen since December of 2011.

And, for the record, the MSCI All-Country World Index has declined 20% from its peak (May last year) to be in 'bear market' territory. This Index is a broad global gauge for stock markets.

Equities:

  • Nikkei -3.51%
  • Shanghai Closed
  • HK -0.53%
  • ASX -1.15%

Still to come:

  • Heads up for China data due over the weekend
  • Heads up for oil traders. Ummm, its nearly the weekend